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Updated: Jan 30, 2026
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Assessment of Dictyostelium discoideum Response to Acute Mechanical Stimulation
Published on: November 9, 2017
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Triparental inheritance in Dictyostelium
Gareth Bloomfield1, Peggy Paschke2, Marina Okamoto3
1Division of Cell Biology, Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge, CB2 0QH, United Kingdom; garethb@mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk.
Summary
Social amoebae exhibit high-frequency genetic recombination during sex, even without the Spo11 enzyme. This process allows for triparental inheritance, where progeny inherit nuclear DNA from two parents and mitochondrial DNA from a third.
Area of Science:
- Genetics
- Evolutionary Biology
- Molecular Biology
Background:
- Sexual reproduction is widespread in eukaryotes, but its molecular mechanisms are not fully understood in all lineages.
- Social amoebae like Dictyostelium discoideum engage in a unique form of sex involving cytoplasmic mixing.
- Studying sexual progeny in D. discoideum has been technically challenging.
Purpose of the Study:
- To perform a genome-wide characterization of meiotic progeny in Dictyostelium discoideum.
- To investigate the mechanisms and outcomes of sexual reproduction in this model organism.
- To explore the role of sex in genetic variation and evolution.
Main Methods:
- Genome-wide analysis of meiotic progeny from pairwise crosses of Dictyostelium discoideum.
- Characterization of nuclear haplotype recombination and mitochondrial genome inheritance.
- Investigation of genetic exchange in the absence of the Spo11 enzyme.
Main Results:
- High-frequency recombination occurs in pairwise crosses between all three mating types, independent of Spo11.
- Triparental inheritance is common, resulting in progeny with nuclear DNA from two parents and mitochondrial DNA from a third.
- Cells not contributing to the zygote nucleus can still influence the next generation.
Conclusions:
- Dictyostelium discoideum sex facilitates extensive genetic recombination and novel inheritance patterns.
- The findings suggest a potential role for sexual selection in mitochondrial genome evolution.
- This unique sexual system may offer insights into eukaryogenesis and the early evolution of sex.
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