Possible Involvement of the Nutrient and Energy Sensors mTORC1 and AMPK in Cell Fate Diversification in a Non-Metazoan Organism.

mTORC1 and AMPK are mutually antagonistic sensors of nutrient and energy status that have been implicated in many human diseases including cancer, Alzheimer's disease, obesity and type 2 diabetes. Starved cells of the social amoeba aggregate and eventually form fruiting bodies consisting of stalk cells and spores. We focus on how this bifurcation of cell fate is achieved.

Microbe Profile: : model system for development, chemotaxis and biomedical research.

The social amoeba is a versatile organism that is unusual in alternating between single-celled and multi-celled forms. It possesses highly-developed systems for cell motility and chemotaxis, phagocytosis, and developmental pattern formation. As a soil amoeba growing on microorganisms, it is exposed to many potential pathogens; it thus provides fruitful ways of investigating host-pathogen interactions and is emerging as an influential model for biomedical research.