Coordinates cell aggregation by synthesizing the cAMP that influences differentiation and morphogenesis of cells within a developing multicellular structure. ATP = 3',5'-cyclic AMP + diphosphate Binds 2 magnesium ions per subunit. Regulated by cyclic AMP receptor 1 through a guanine nucleotide binding protein and protein CRAC. Both positively and negatively regulated by extracellular cAMP; this regulation is part of the mechanism that establishes the oscillatory cAMP waves during aggregation. In non-polarized cells ACA is uniformly distributed at the membrane but upon polarization it becomes highly enriched at the uropodium. Expressed throughout the structure in the tipped mound and finger. Expressed primarily in the prestalk region of the slug. In the early culminant expression is increased in the posterior prespore and anterior-most regions and expands into the developing stalk. In the mid and late culminant it is expressed throughout the stalk. Expressed during development. First detected at 3 hours of development. Levels increase during aggregation and peak at 6 hours. Levels decrease after tight aggregate formation. No cAMP synthesis. Cells are unable to aggregate, stimulation with cAMP pulses restores aggregation but slug and fruiting body formation remains very inefficient. When placed in a cAMP gradient mutants lacking ACA acquire polarity and migrate along the gradient but fail to align in a head to tail fashion and form streams. They are also unable to suppress lateral pseudopod formation, resulting in abnormal turns and inefficient chemotaxis. Transfer of the temperature-sensitive mutant tsaca2 to a temperature of 28 degrees Celsius leads to developmental arrest that is reversible when the temperature is shifted down to 22 degrees Celsius. In mutants with a constitutively active ACA, localization to the uropodium in polarized cells is reduced and these mutants fail to stream in a cAMP gradient. Belongs to the adenylyl cyclase class-4/guanylyl cyclase family.