Applying home-based experiments on locally isolated Dictyostelium discoideum to qualitatively demonstrate taxis of social amoebae

Abstract

Abstract. Claudio-Paragas CY, Balaoro-Banzuela RC, Dagamac NHA, Ocenar-Bautista CE. 2023. Applying home-based experiments on locally isolated Dictyostelium discoideum to qualitatively demonstrate taxis of social amoebae. Cell Biol Dev 7: 75-81. Recent years have seen a growing interest in studies on slime molds based in the Philippines, but the inclusivity of Dictyostelids has been largely overlooked. The country has very few studies investigating this category of microbial predators over the past two decades despite their ecological importance in maintaining balance in the soil ecosystem. Thus, we consolidated a multifaceted assessment that examined the behavioral response of locally isolated dictyostelids to an array of external stimuli, particularly under light- and food-induced conditions. The tail-end movement of the motile cells of the clear-cut species, Dictyostelium discoideum Raper, was assessed through a proxy indicator based on the fructification of the species. This was done by setting up two simple home-based experimental setups that investigate the effect of light wavelengths and prey cell viability based on the differentiation rate and one choice experiment that looks into the designation of fructification of D. discoideum, whether it preferentially differentiates under light or in darkness. Our setups revealed the following: (i) fruiting bodies develop in any light wavelength, but fructification is fastest in white ambient light; (ii) dead microbial cells constitute a lag in fruiting body development; and (iii) the decision-making of D. discoideum does not prefer photo avoidance.