As part of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft's (DFG, German Research Foundation) "Genome Sequencing" initiative, researchers at the Center for Biochemistry and Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne, University of Cologne, and the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology (IMB) in Jena, working as part of an international collaboration with colleagues from the USA, the United Kingdom, Japan and France have sequenced the genome of the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum. The results of their research are published in the current issue of Nature (Nature 435, 5 May 2005). Over the course of several years, the German team, led by Angelika Noegel, Ludwig Eichinger, Gernot Glckner, Andr Rosenthal and Matthias Platzer, as part of the international team, has sequenced 60 percent of the 34 million or so bases that constitute this minute creature's genetic makeup.

To their surprise, the researchers discovered about 12,500 genes human beings only have about twice as many. This means that Dictyostelium could not only help explain a number of questions relating to cell biology and evolution, but could even be used to characterise human genes whose function remains unclear or whose mutation results in diseases. The Dictyostelium genome was also found to be rich in protein bases that result in human diseases, in fact they were found to be more abundant than in any other sequenced genome. Understanding how the social amoeba is able to tolerate this type of protein could pave the way to novel therapeutic approaches.

Starvation prompts the solitary cells to aggregate and develop as a multicellular organism consisting of up to 100,000 cells, where individual members of the community sacrifice themselves to ensure the survival of others. In terms of its developmental lineage, the social amoeba dates back to before the plant-animal split. Studying it can therefore contribute greatly to our understanding of the evolution of higher organisms. The large number of genes whi
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Contact: Dr. Ingrid Ohlert
ingrid.ohlert@dfg.de
49-228-885-2258
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
13-May-2005

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