Development of prespore vacuoles inDictyostelium cells differentiating in a liquid shake culture

Summary When shaken in a glucose-albumin-cyclic AMP medium, dissociated aggregative cells form small clumps in which prespore cells differentiate fairly synchronously (Okamoto 1981). Formation of prespore vacuoles (PSVs) in differentiating prespore cells was examined in these culture conditions, by electronmicroscopy and immunocytochemistry.After 6 hours of culture, a typical Golgi apparatus composed of vesicles and stacked flat cisternae develops near the nucleus. FITC-conjugated antispore serum stains a crescent-shaped region in the cells which seems to correspond to the Golgi area. After 9 hours, flat sacs which contain electron dense lining membrane similar to that of PSVs appear alongside Golgi cisternae. Later, partially and fully round PSVs are observed in this region, suggesting that flat sacs round up to become mature PSVs. After 12 hours, as mature PSVs increase in number, they become dispersed throughout the cytoplasm and a typical Golgi apparatus with cisternae disappears. When cultured in a medium devoid of cyclic AMP, cells develop neither Golgi cisternae nor PSVs. These results strongly suggest that PSVs form from Golgi cisternae.