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Updated: Aug 17, 2025

Assessment of Dictyostelium discoideum Response to Acute Mechanical Stimulation
Published on: November 9, 2017
Abstract:
Dictyostelium discoideum is a species of free-living soil amoeba that feeds on bacteria that grow on decaying vegetation. Though the present account deals with D. discoideum, I use the more colloquial 'dictyostelium' in this article. In 1989, as a new PI, I began to study the response of D. discoideum amoebae to pisatin. Pisatin is the major phytoalexin of the pea plant (Pisum sativum). Phytoalexins are antifungal compounds made by plants in response to infection and injury. No other group has studied any dictyostelium vis-a`-vis any phytoalexin. Evidence for saying so comes from PubMed: four papers show up with the keywords 'dictyostelium', and 'phytoalexin', all from my lab. Why did we 'plough this lonely furrow' and what did we uncover?
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