Acrasin

An acrasin is a pheromone used by species of slime mold, which signals to the many individual cells and triggers an aggregation response, such that they form a single large cell (a plasmodium). ^[1] One of the earliest acrasins to be identified was cyclic AMP, found in the species Dictyostelium discoideum by Brian Shaffer, which exhibits a complex swirling-pulsating spiral pattern when forming a pseudoplasmodium.

The term "acrasin" is a reference to the character Acrasia in Edmund Spenser's Faerie Queene, who seduced men against their will and then transformed them into beasts. Acrasia is itself a play on the Greek akrasia that describes loss of free will.

Extraction

Brian Shaffer was the first to purify acrasin, now known to be cyclic AMP, in 1954, using methanol. ^[2] Glorin, the acrasin of P. violaceum , can be purified by inhibiting the acrasin-degrading enzyme acrasinase with alcohol, extracting with alcohol and separating with column chromatography. ^{[3] [4]}

Notes

1. ^ Evidence for the formation of cell aggregates by chemotaxis in the development of the slime mold Dictyostelium discoideum - J.T.Bonner and L.J.Savage Journal of Experimental Biology Vol. 106, pp. 1, October (1947) Cell Biology
2. ^ Aggregation in cellular slime moulds: in vitro isolation of acrasin - B.M.Shaffer Nature Vol. 79, pp. 975, (1953) Cell Biology
3. ^ Identification of a pterin as the acrasin of the cellular slime mold Dictyostelium lacteum - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences United States Vol. 79, pp. 6270–6274, October (1982) Cell Biology
4. ^ Hunting Slime Moulds - Adele Conover, Smithsonian Magazine Online (2001)

References

1. King, Robert C. (2013). A dictionary of genetics. Mulligan, Pamela Khipple, 1953-, Stansfield, William D., 1930- (8th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0-19-937686-5. OCLC   871046520.
2. Shaffer, B. M. (1956-06-29). "Properties of acrasin". Science. 123 (3209): 1172–1173. Bibcode:1956Sci...123.1172S. doi:10.1126/science.123.3209.1172. ISSN   0036-8075. PMID   13337336.
3. Heftmann, Erich; Wright, Barbara E.; Liddel, Gerald U. (December 1959). "Identification of a Sterol with Acrasin Activity in a Slime Mold" . Journal of the American Chemical Society. 81 (24): 6525–6526. doi:10.1021/ja01533a054. ISSN   0002-7863.
4. Shimomura, O.; Suthers, H. L.; Bonner, J. T. (1982-12-01). "Chemical identity of the acrasin of the cellular slime mold Polysphondylium violaceum". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 79 (23): 7376–7379. Bibcode:1982PNAS...79.7376S. doi: 10.1073/pnas.79.23.7376 . ISSN   0027-8424. PMC   347342 . PMID   6961416.