AUTHOR=Kumar Rakesh , Maurya Ranjana , Saran Shweta 

TITLE=Investigating the Role of Translationally Control Tumor Protein in Growth, Development and Differentiation of Dictyostelium discoideum

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology

VOLUME=8

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cell-and-developmental-biology/articles/10.3389/fcell.2020.00742

DOI=10.3389/fcell.2020.00742

ISSN=2296-634X

ABSTRACT=<p>Translationally controlled tumor protein (TCTP) is a multifunctional protein implicated in various types of cellular processes involving growth and development of an organism. Here, we identified <italic>tctp</italic> gene in <italic>Dictyostelium discoideum</italic> and unraveled its function. The sequence analysis of <italic>D. discoideum</italic> TCTP (<italic>Dd</italic>TCTP) showed its conservation among eukaryotes. Transcript of <italic>Dd</italic>TCTP was highly expressed at the initial time points of development and protein is localized both in the cytoplasm and nucleus. Disruption of <italic>tctp</italic> was achieved by BSR cassette using double homologous recombination method. Abrogation of <italic>tctp</italic> resulted in reduced cell proliferation but increased cell size. Additionally, development was delayed by 4 h wherein small-sized aggregates and fruiting bodies were produced by <italic>tctp</italic><sup>–</sup> cells while larger aggregates and fruiting bodies were produced by <italic>tctp</italic><sup><italic>OE</italic></sup> cells concordant with the fact that TCTP regulates prestalk/prespore ratio and cell-type differentiation. <italic>tctp</italic><sup>–</sup> cells produced round spores with reduced viability and stalk cells are arranged in septate pattern as compared to polyhedral manner of wild type. Abrogation of <italic>tctp</italic> resulted in aberrant localization of cell type specific markers and show low proclivity toward prespore/spore region, in presence of wild type cells.</p>