2 research outputs found
Alkylbenzoquinone Involved in Development of Cellular Slime Molds
The structure of the prespore-cell-promoting
factor from <i>Dictyostelium discoideum</i> 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, <i>Polysphodilium
violaceum</i>. Both these activities are sensitive to positional
isomerism with the 6-methyl-5-pentyl isomer showing no detectable
activity