Expression of a spore-specific gene in Dictyostelium discoideum

Abstract The expression of a previously cloned Dictyostelium discoideum spore-specific gene (Julien et al., EMBO J. 1, 1089–1093 (1982)) was investigated in wild type and mutant strains. In vitro translation of this spore-specific mRNA gave a protein of a molecular weight consistent with the mRNA size. Expressed at a low level during vegetative growth development and in stalk cells, the accumulation of this mRNA reached high values only in spore cells.