English: In addition to its social cycle, D. discoideum also undergoes a sexual cycle in nature wherein haploid amoebas of different mating types fuse into a diploid zygote and induce nearby cells to sacrifice themselves to provide nutrients and to produce a macrocyst wall. Like the sacrifice of stalk cells in the social cycle, this process may drive conflict between genotypes over which cells are sacrificed, but difficulty inducing the sexual cycle in the laboratory means further research is required.