Dictyostelium

Dictyostelium are Dictyostelid single- and multi-celled eukaryotic, phagotrophic bacterivores usually present and often abundant in terrestrial ecosystems and are a normal component of the microflora in cells that help in soil balance between bacteria and soils. The amoeba are often grouped as slime molds. The order is the Dictyosteliida (Dictyostelid cellular slime molds or social amoebae. ) Dictyosteliida contains organisms that hover on the borderline between uni- and multicellularity. The protists are often found on organic matter or in soils and caves. Typically, cells grow separately and independently but interact to form multi-cellular structures when challenged by adverse conditions such as starvation. Up to 1,000,000 cells signal each other by releasing chemoattractants such as cyclic AMP (cAMP) or glorin, and coalesce by chemotaxis to form an aggregate that becomes surrounded by an extracellular matrix and may move collectively before differentiating into a fruiting body. Basic processes of development such as differential cell sorting, pattern formation, stimulus-induced gene expression, and cell-type regulation are common to Dictyostelium and metazoans. For further detail see family Dictyostelid.