The Dictyostelium discoideum genome has been sequenced, assembled and annotated 
to a high degree of reliability. The parts-list of proteins and RNA encoded by 
the six chromosomes can now be accessed and analyzed. One of the initial 
surprises was the remarkably large number of genes that are shared with plants, 
animals, and fungi that must have been present in their common progenitor over a 
billion years ago. The genome encodes a total of about 10,300 proteins including 
protein families involved in cytoskeletal control, posttranslational protein 
modification, detoxification, secondary metabolism, cell adhesion, and signal 
transduction. The genome has a higher proportion of homopolymeric tracts and 
simple sequence repeats, such as [CAA]n, than most other genomes. Triplet 
repeats in translated regions produce the highest known proportion of 
polyglutamine tracts in any known proteome. Phylogenetic analyses based on 
complete proteomes confirm that the amoebozoa are a sister group to the animals 
and fungi, distinct from plants and early diverging species such as Leishmania, 
Plasmodium, or Giardia. The completed Dictyostelium sequence opens the door to 
large-scale functional exploration of its genome.