Cell patterning in migrating slugs of Dictyostelium discoideum.

When front quarters of migrating slugs of Dictyostelium discoideum are isolated by surgery and induced to friut immediately they produce fruiting bodies with disproportionately large stalks (Raper, 1940). The data in this communication show that the 'stalky' character of fruits derived from front quarters persists even if the cells of the front quarter are disaggregated and hence to reaggregate before fruiting. The data also demonstrate that friuts derived from rear quarters of slugs have disproportionately large spore heads, and that this effect becomes more pronounced with increasing age of the slugs. These observations support the view that the cells of the front and rear of migrating slugs are to some extent committed to different fates.