5 Scopus citations

Abstract

Dictyostelium has become a model organism for the study of social evolution because of the stage in its life cycle where thousands of independent amoebae together form a fruiting body. Some individuals die to form a stalk that holds aloft the remaining cells for dispersal to new environments as spores. Different genotypes can aggregate together, creating opportunities for exploitation by cheaters that contribute a smaller proportion of cells to the stalk. Clustering of genotypes into separate fruiting bodies reduces the opportunities for cheating. Some genotypes achieve this by segregating after aggregation. Here we describe techniques for assaying cheating and segregation in D. discoideum. We cover how to grow and maintain cells, fluorescently label genotypes, design experiments for accuracy and precision, calculate fitness and segregation, and interpret the results.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationDictyostelium discoideum Protocols
PublisherHumana Press Inc.
Pages231-248
Number of pages18
ISBN (Print)9781627033015
DOIs
StatePublished - 2013

Publication series

NameMethods in Molecular Biology
Volume983
ISSN (Print)1064-3745

Keywords

  • Cheating
  • Cooperation
  • Relatedness
  • Social evolution
  • Social microbes

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