Abstract
IN Dictyostelium and Polysphondylium, members of the Acrasieæ, there is an aggregation stage in which previously independent amœboid cells stream towards certain cell clumps, which thus act as collecting centres, and there form communal fruiting bodies1. Communication between the centres and the reacting cells is through the external medium. Bonner2 produced indirect evidence that a chemical diffused outwards from the centres, setting up a concentration gradient by which the separate cells oriented themselves; pointing out that isolation in vitro would be the final proof of the chemical's existence, he named it ‘acrasin’.
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References
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SHAFFER, B. Aggregation in Cellular Slime Moulds: in vitro Isolation of Acrasin. Nature 171, 975 (1953). https://doi.org/10.1038/171975a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/171975a0
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