Trehalose Synthesis during Differentiation in Dictyostelium discoideum

The synthesis of [14C]trehalose has been studied in vivo at various stages of differentiation in Dictyostelium discoideum. The rate of synthesis was negligible from aggregation until late in the culmination process. At that time, a 100-fold burst of synthetic activity was observed, amounting to 0.04 µmole of trehalose per min per ml of packed cells. In the course of these studies radioactive maltose was also identified as a product of [14C]glucose metabolism.