Commonly referred to as slime mold, D. discoideum is a eukaryote that transitions from a collection of unicellular amoebae into a multicellular slug and then into a fruiting body within its lifetime.

The cells involved in the life cycle undergo movement, chemical signaling, and development, which are applicable to human cancer research.

Uninucleate amoebae of D. discoideum consume bacteria found in their natural habitat, which includes deciduous forest soil and decaying leaves.

The migration stage begins once the amoebae have formed a tight aggregate and the elongated mound of cells tips over to lie flat on the ground.

[6] Part of this sheath is left behind as a slimy trail as it moves toward attractants such as light, heat, and humidity in a forward-only direction.

[6] This fruiting body is 1–2 mm tall and is now able to start the entire cycle over again by releasing the mature spores that become myxamoebae.

[8] When incubated with their bacterial food supply, heterothallic or homothallic sexual development can occur, resulting in the formation of a diploid zygote.

Nevertheless, recombination is widespread within D. discoideum natural populations, indicating that sex is likely an important aspect of their life cycle.

It can be observed at organismic, cellular, and molecular levels primarily because of their restricted number of cell types and behaviors, and their rapid growth.

It is also used to study other aspects of development, including cell sorting, pattern formation, phagocytosis, motility, and signal transduction.

The spiraling pattern is formed by amoebas at the centre of a colony who rotate as they send out waves of cyclic AMP.

In developmental biology, this is one of the comprehensible examples of chemotaxis, which is important for an understanding of human inflammation, arthritis, asthma, lymphocyte trafficking, and axon guidance.

Phagocytosis is used in immune surveillance and antigen presentation, while cell-type determination, cell sorting, and pattern formation are basic features of embryogenesis that may be studied with these organisms.

A recent major contribution from Dictyostelium research has come from new techniques allowing the activity of individual genes to be visualised in living cells.

Another remarkable feature of the organism is that it has sets of DNA repair enzymes found in human cells, which are lacking from many other popular metazoan model systems.

For example, it has an affinity toward light, higher temperatures, high humidity, low ionic concentrations, and the acidic side of the pH gradient.

[23] In 2013, a group at the Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre reported an antibody-free protein visualization standard for immunoblotting based on detection of MCCC1 using streptavidin conjugates.

[25] Specifically, D. discoideum shares with mammalian host cells a similar cytoskeleton and cellular processes relevant to Legionella infection, including phagocytosis, membrane trafficking, endocytosis, vesicle sorting, and chemotaxis.

This incorporation has a cost associated with it: Those colonies that do not consume all of the prey bacteria produce smaller spores that cannot disperse as widely.

The research is not yet conclusive but it is possible to draw a general life cycle of D. discoideum adapted for farmer clones to better understand this symbiotic process.In the picture, one can see the different stages.

First, in the starvation stage, bacteria are enclosed within D. discoideum,[28] after entry into amoebae, in a phagosome the fusion with lysosomes is blocked and these unmatured phagosomes are surrounded by host cell organelles such as mitochondria, vesicles, and a multilayer membrane derived from the rough endoplasmic reticulum (RER) of amoebae.

Transient association with amoebae has been reported for a number of different bacteria, including Legionella pneumophila, many Mycobacterium species, Francisella tularensis, and Escherichia coli, among others.

[29] Agriculture seems to play a crucial role for pathogens' survival, as they can live and replicate inside D. discoideum, making husbandry.

Nature’s report has made an important advance in the knowledge of amoebic behavior, and the famous Spanish phrase translated as “you are more stupid than an amoeba” is losing the sense because amoebae are an excellent example of social behavior with an amazing coordination and sense of sacrifice for the benefit of the species.

One strain acts as a food source, while the other produces beneficial secondary metabolites that deters the growth of fungi and enhances the fertility of "farmer" individuals.

When exposed to a toxic environment created by the use of ethidium bromide, it was shown that the number of sentinel cells per millimeter was lower for farmers than non-farmers.

This was concluded by observing the trails left behind as the slugs migrated and counting the number of sentinel cells present in a millimeter.

This was a class of cellular slime molds, which was characterized by the aggregation of individual amoebae into a multicellular fruiting body, making it an important factor that related the acrasids to the dictyostelids.

[35] Subclass Dictyosteliidae, order Dictyosteliales is a monophyletic assemblage within the Mycetozoa, a group that includes the protostelid, dictyostelid, and myxogastrid slime molds.

Learning how D. discoideum cells endure these amino acid repeats may provide insight to allow humans to tolerate them.