Institute of Medical Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Innsbruck, Fritz-Pregl-Strasse 3, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria
A several days period of starvation is an important pre-condition for Physarum macroplasmodia to obtain the ability for differentiating into sporangia. Thereby, limitation of glucose is crucial. As a result, nitric oxide synthase (NOS) expression is strongly increased over this period. Inhibition of NOS or of soluble guanylate cyclase, a target of NO responsible for cGMP production, prevented sporulation and the expression of the early sporulation-specific gene lig1. Reconstitution of cGMP 2 h prior to setting the sporulation-inducing light pulse counteracted inhibition of NOS and reconstituted the ability to sporulate and to express lig1 (1). This work on Physarum revealed a novel function of NO in differentiation.
(1) Golderer G et al. (2001) Genes & Dev. 15, 1299-1309
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Last modified: Tuesday, December 3, 2002