Cooperation in D. discoideum

Question 1

Dictyostelium discoideum (slime moulds) are usually solitary, but they aggregate in times of starvation. Genetically diverse clones come together to form a slug for movement. Cells differentiate into the stalk and fruiting body. The fruiting body produces spores and disperse whereas stalk cells will die. Who found this?

Answer 1

Santorelli, 2007.

Question 2

Many cheater mutants discovered that preferentially migrate to pre-spore region. The cheater phenotype of D. discoideum produces more spores than the wildtype, yet this is deleterious to the colony in the long-term as the more cheaters in the population produces fewer fruiting bodies overall. Cheater gene termed fbxA-. Who found this?

Answer 2

Gilbert et al., 2007.

Question 3

Who looked at evolution under two lines of relatedness and found that relatedness restricted the evolution of cheating?

Answer 3

Kudzai-Fick et al., 2012.

Question 4

Who found that kin recognition in D. discoideum achieved via tgrB1 and tgrC1 genes?

Answer 4

Ho et al., 2013.