The expression of two transcripts of the phosphodiesterase gene during the development of Dictyostelium discoideum

One of the earliest events in the development of Dictyostelium discoideum is the induction of the cyclic nucleotide phosphodiesterase gene. During vegetative growth a small amount of secreted phosphodiesterase is synthesized. The phosphodiesterase transcript which is responsible for the vegetative enzyme has a size of 1800 nucleotides. Soon after starvation begins a more abundant mRNA with a size of 2200 nucleotides is synthesized by the developing cells. The induction of the 2200-nucleotide mRNA is dependent on protein synthesis and takes place under all regimens of growth and starvation. When growth is in axenic medium and development is in phosphate buffer, the appearance of the larger transcript is very rapid, occurring within 30 min after the onset of starvation. The initial burst of phosphodiesterase mRNA synthesis is followed by a decline in mRNA abundance unless the cells are stimulated by cAMP. When cells are grown on bacteria and development takes place on filter paper, the larger transcript appears after 4 hr, reaches a peak at 10-12 hr of development, and then slowly disappears. When prestalk and prespore cells from migrating slugs are separated, a small amount of transcript can be found only in the prestalk cells. A series of mutants blocked early in development make very little phosphodiesterase transcript or are otherwise abnormal in expression of the phosphodiesterase mRNA. Together these mutants define five independent genetic loci which affect the accumulation of the phosphodiesterase mRNA. These are the pdsA, fgdA, fgdC, fgdD, and fgdE genes.