Abstract

We are only starting to understand the molecular mechanisms that underlie cell and tissue movements during morphogenesis in metazoans. Dictyostelium discoideum provides a valuable model system for understanding these events — as it has for chemotaxis — despite the many differences that exist between this social amoeba and more complex organisms. Genetic and genomic studies, combined with real-time imaging, have identified key pathways that regulate morphogenesis in D. discoideum, and which are likely to have similar roles in metazoans.

Author affiliations

1. Cell and Molecular Biology, Center for Genetic Medicine, Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, 303 East Chicago Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60611, USA.
   Email: r-chisholm@northwestern.edu
2. Section of Cell and Developmental Biology, Division of Biological Sciences, Center for Molecular Genetics, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, California 92093-0634, USA.
   Email: rafirtel@ucsd.edu

MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS

These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated.