Dictyostelia are common soil microbes that can aggregate when starved to form multicellular fruiting bodies, a characteristic that has also led to their long history of study and widespread use as model systems. Ribosomal RNA phylogeny of Dictyostelia identified four major divisions (Groups 1-4), none of which correspond to traditional genera. Group 1 was also tentatively identified as sister lineage to the other three Groups, although not consistently or with strong support. We will test the dictyostelid root using universal protein-coding genes identified by exhaustive comparison of 20 completely sequenced dictyostelid genomes and 8 outgroup taxa. The work consists of four main steps. 1) Identification of universal proteins shared by Dictyostelia and the outgroup (Amoebozoa). 2) Screening of candidate proteins for suitability - single copy, easily aligned, strong phylogenetic signal. 3) Phylogenetic analysis of the full protein data set for all taxa. 4) Phylogenetic controls for subsets of taxa and/or proteins to control for common deep rooting artefacts. The first two stages are completed, while stages 3 and 4 are computationally demanding. The result of these analyses will be a root universal dictyostelid tree, which will answer important evolutionary questions about the origins of multicellularity in amoebozoa.