LONG maligned as mere blobs, amoebas turn out to have a caring, sharing side.
By watching colonies under a microscrope, researchers in Israel have discovered
that other amoebas come to the rescue when a neighbour is struggling to divide
into two.
The 鈥渄aughter鈥� cells send out chemical distress signals when they have
difficulty severing the 3-micrometre-thick 鈥渦mbilical cord鈥� linking them to each
other. Neighbours pick up the scent and flock to the scene. 鈥淭he midwife pushes
itself in between and physically wedges them apart,鈥� says Elisha Moses, head of
the team at the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, Israel, that made the discovery.
The team, which reports its findings in Nature (vol 41, p 430),
suspects that the 鈥渕idwife鈥� cells are attracted by a digestible sugar that
rewards them for their efforts.