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Genetic Engineering of Dictyostelium discoideum Cells Based on Selection and Growth on Bacteria

Dictyostelium discoideum is an intriguing model organism for the study of cell differentiation processes during development, cell signaling, and other important cellular biology questions. The technologies available to genetically manipulate Dictyostelium cells are well-developed. Transfections can...

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Autores principales: Paschke, Peggy, Knecht, David A., Williams, Thomas D., Thomason, Peter A., Insall, Robert H., Chubb, Jonathan R., Kay, Robert R., Veltman, Douwe M.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MyJove Corporation 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7039707/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30735174
http://dx.doi.org/10.3791/58981
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author Paschke, Peggy
Knecht, David A.
Williams, Thomas D.
Thomason, Peter A.
Insall, Robert H.
Chubb, Jonathan R.
Kay, Robert R.
Veltman, Douwe M.
author_facet Paschke, Peggy
Knecht, David A.
Williams, Thomas D.
Thomason, Peter A.
Insall, Robert H.
Chubb, Jonathan R.
Kay, Robert R.
Veltman, Douwe M.
author_sort Paschke, Peggy
collection PubMed
description Dictyostelium discoideum is an intriguing model organism for the study of cell differentiation processes during development, cell signaling, and other important cellular biology questions. The technologies available to genetically manipulate Dictyostelium cells are well-developed. Transfections can be performed using different selectable markers and marker re-cycling, including homologous recombination and insertional mutagenesis. This is supported by a well-annotated genome. However, these approaches are optimized for axenic cell lines growing in liquid cultures and are difficult to apply to non-axenic wild-type cells, which feed only on bacteria. The mutations that are present in axenic strains disturb Ras signaling, causing excessive macropinocytosis required for feeding, and impair cell migration, which confounds the interpretation of signal transduction and chemotaxis experiments in those strains. Earlier attempts to genetically manipulate non-axenic cells have lacked efficiency and required complex experimental procedures. We have developed a simple transfection protocol that, for the first time, overcomes these limitations. Those series of large improvements to Dictyostelium molecular genetics allow wild-type cells to be manipulated as easily as standard laboratory strains. In addition to the advantages for studying uncorrupted signaling and motility processes, mutants that disrupt macropinocytosis-based growth can now be readily isolated. Furthermore, the entire transfection workflow is greatly accelerated, with recombinant cells that can be generated in days rather than weeks. Another advantage is that molecular genetics can further be performed with freshly isolated wild-type Dictyostelium samples from the environment. This can help to extend the scope of approaches used in these research areas.
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spelling pubmed-70397072020-02-24 Genetic Engineering of Dictyostelium discoideum Cells Based on Selection and Growth on Bacteria Paschke, Peggy Knecht, David A. Williams, Thomas D. Thomason, Peter A. Insall, Robert H. Chubb, Jonathan R. Kay, Robert R. Veltman, Douwe M. J Vis Exp Genetics Dictyostelium discoideum is an intriguing model organism for the study of cell differentiation processes during development, cell signaling, and other important cellular biology questions. The technologies available to genetically manipulate Dictyostelium cells are well-developed. Transfections can be performed using different selectable markers and marker re-cycling, including homologous recombination and insertional mutagenesis. This is supported by a well-annotated genome. However, these approaches are optimized for axenic cell lines growing in liquid cultures and are difficult to apply to non-axenic wild-type cells, which feed only on bacteria. The mutations that are present in axenic strains disturb Ras signaling, causing excessive macropinocytosis required for feeding, and impair cell migration, which confounds the interpretation of signal transduction and chemotaxis experiments in those strains. Earlier attempts to genetically manipulate non-axenic cells have lacked efficiency and required complex experimental procedures. We have developed a simple transfection protocol that, for the first time, overcomes these limitations. Those series of large improvements to Dictyostelium molecular genetics allow wild-type cells to be manipulated as easily as standard laboratory strains. In addition to the advantages for studying uncorrupted signaling and motility processes, mutants that disrupt macropinocytosis-based growth can now be readily isolated. Furthermore, the entire transfection workflow is greatly accelerated, with recombinant cells that can be generated in days rather than weeks. Another advantage is that molecular genetics can further be performed with freshly isolated wild-type Dictyostelium samples from the environment. This can help to extend the scope of approaches used in these research areas. MyJove Corporation 2019-01-25 /pmc/articles/PMC7039707/ /pubmed/30735174 http://dx.doi.org/10.3791/58981 Text en Copyright © 2019, Journal of Visualized Experiments http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. To view a copy of this license, visithttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/
spellingShingle Genetics
Paschke, Peggy
Knecht, David A.
Williams, Thomas D.
Thomason, Peter A.
Insall, Robert H.
Chubb, Jonathan R.
Kay, Robert R.
Veltman, Douwe M.
Genetic Engineering of Dictyostelium discoideum Cells Based on Selection and Growth on Bacteria
title Genetic Engineering of Dictyostelium discoideum Cells Based on Selection and Growth on Bacteria
title_full Genetic Engineering of Dictyostelium discoideum Cells Based on Selection and Growth on Bacteria
title_fullStr Genetic Engineering of Dictyostelium discoideum Cells Based on Selection and Growth on Bacteria
title_full_unstemmed Genetic Engineering of Dictyostelium discoideum Cells Based on Selection and Growth on Bacteria
title_short Genetic Engineering of Dictyostelium discoideum Cells Based on Selection and Growth on Bacteria
title_sort genetic engineering of dictyostelium discoideum cells based on selection and growth on bacteria
topic Genetics
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7039707/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30735174
http://dx.doi.org/10.3791/58981
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