Alkylbenzoquinone involved in development of cellular slime molds.

The structure of the prespore-cell-promoting factor from Dictyostelium discoideum was determined to be 2-hydroxy-5-methyl-6-pentylbenzoquinone. The synthetic compound has prespore-cell-promoting activity similar to the natural one, with half-maximal induction at a concentration as low as 40 pM. It was also found that the factor induces aggregation in an aggregation-deficient mutant of a related species, Polysphodilium violaceum. Both these activities are sensitive to positional isomerism with the 6-methyl-5-pentyl isomer showing no detectable activity.