GINSBURG, G.T., Laboratory of Cellular and Developmental Biology, NIDDK, National Institutes of Health, Bldg 6/B1-22, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892, United States
GOLLOP, R., Laboratory of Cellular and Developmental Biology, NIDDK, National Institutes of Health, Bldg 6/B1-22, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892, United States
YU, Y., Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, 30322, United States
LOUIS, J.M., Laboratory of Cellular and Developmental Biology, NIDDK, National Institutes of Health, Bldg 6/B1-22, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892, United States
SAXE, C.L., Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia, 30322, United States
KIMMEL, A.R., Laboratory of Cellular and Developmental Biology, NIDDK, National Institutes of Health, Bldg 6/B1-22, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892, United States

ABSTRACT. Dictyostelium discoideum has a well characterized life cycle where unicellular growth and multicellular development are separated events. Development is dependent upon signal transduction mediated by cell surface, cAMP receptor/G protein linkages. Secreted cAMP acts extracellularly as a primary signal and chemoattractant. There are 4 genes for the distinct cAMP receptor subtypes, CAR1, CAR2, CAR3 and CAR4. These subtypes are expressed with temporally and spatially specific patterns and cells carrying null mutations for each gene have distinct developmental phenotypes. These results indicate an essential role for cAMP signalling throughout Dictyostelium development to regulate such diverse pathways as cell motility, aggregation (multicellularity), cytodifferentiation, pattern formation and cell type‐specific gene expression. Copyright © 1995, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserved