An assay for pattern formation in dictyostelium discoideum using monoclonal antibodies, flow cytometry, and subsequent data analysis

An assay for determining the proportions of prespore cells in a simple multicellular organism, the slug stage of Dictyostelium discoideum, was established using a prespore-specific monoclonal antibody and a fluorescence-activated cell sorter. Appropriate techniques for data analysis were developed. The effects of slug size and age were determined. Small slugs have a lower percentage of prespore cells than large slugs. The percentage of prespore cells increases and then decreases in slugs aged between a few hours and 9 days. Pronounced effects were observed on the size of cells in aging slugs. In particular unlabelled (mostly prestalk) cells were larger than prespore cells in young slugs, but after 6 days migration they became considerably smaller than prespore cells. The fact that all unlabelled cells were coordinately shifted in size, suggests that these cells (which comprise prestalk, prestalklike, and predisc cells) are related to each other.