Trehalose accumulation in stalk and spore cells of Dictyostelium discoideum

Abstract

Single-celled myxamoebae undergo differentiation into either stalk cells or spore cells during a 24-hr period in Dictyostelium discoideum. This study employed ultramicrochemical techniques and enzymatic cycling to assess the presence of cell-specific events in spore and stalk cells. Freeze-dried sections of one organism were assayed in 0.1 μl of reaction mixture. This method was used to determine the extent of localization of trehalose in spore cells and stalk cells during development. Trehalose was low in the early stages of differentiation to about 20 hr when the level started to increase. In developing spore cells, the trehalose level increased sixfold during the last 5 hr of development. Likewise, the entire stalk contained trehalose when the stalk was first formed. At mature sorocarp, trehalose levels were the same in spores and the apex of the stalk. There was a decreasing gradient of trehalose down the stalk. The bottom one-fourth of the stalk was devoid of this disaccharide. Therefore, trehalose was degraded from an area of the stalk where it was localized earlier in development. The results of this investigation negate the assumption that trehalose is never present in the stalk. Although trehalose was found in spore cells, prestalk cells also contained high trehalose levels. The stalk cell-specific trehalose was not retained during differentiation, however, but was apparently degraded in the mature stalk cell.