I run the Microbial Cell Biology Laboratory here at La Trobe Uni. in Melbourne, Australia. Our main research interest is the molecular genetics of signal transduction in the cellular slime mould Dictyostelium discoideum . In particular we study signal transduction during phototaxis and thermotaxis in the multicellular slug stage. Dictyostelium discoideum is a cellular slime mould whose natural habitat is soil and leaf litter where it predates bacteria by phagocytosis, grows and divides by mitosis. 4 Mb mp3 file or a ca.
Slugs are phototactic, thermotactic and weakly chemotactic.
After a variable period of migration the slug stops and forms a fruiting body consisting, to a first approximation, of a droplet of spores supported by a tapered stalk and basal disc. The behaviour and morphogenetic movements are controlled by the tip via what are believed to be extracellular tip activation and inhibition signals. The tip activation signal is probably carried by 3-dimensional scroll waves of cAMP emanating from the tip. We are investigating the signal transduction pathways in slug behaviour using a combination of pharmacological, genetic, cell physiological and molecular biological approaches. We recently discovered that signal transduction for phototaxis and thermotaxis in slugs is more sensitive to the presence of mitochondrial defects than other cellular activities such as growth and division.