Verification of Chromosomal Inversions along the tgrB1-C1 loci in Dictyostelium discoideum
Date
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Chromosomal inversions readily occur in nature, but their effects have not been thoroughly studied. Dictyostelium discoideum is a social amoeba, that when depleted of food, aggregate into multicellular fruiting bodies consisting of viable spores and stalks made of dead cells. However, when genetically dissimilar cells co-aggregate, some strains can “cheat” other populations into donating a larger portion to the stalk. Kin-recognition is strongly mediated by different alleles of the tgrB1-tgrC1 loci that belong to a large gene family named tiger. 5 wild-types did show positive results upon gel electrophoresis but sequencing determined the results were due to non-specific binding. Sequencing revealed large portions of AT-rich regions that could account for non-specificity during PCR.