Slime Moulds

Richard L Blanton, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, USA

Published online: April 2001

DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0001987

Slime moulds are organisms that feed and grow like protozoa but reproduce like fungi. Their unusual name belies their importance as experimental research organisms and their potential to provide insights into the evolution of multicellularity.

Keywords: Eumycetozoa; Heterolobosea; acrasid; dictyostelid; myxomycete

Figure 1. Plasmodium of Physarum polycephalum. The plasmodium has emerged from a sclerotium, a resting stage that forms when plasmodia are dried. Reversible cytoplasmic streaming occurs in the tubular structures. Magnification × 4. Photomacrograph © R. L. Blanton.
Figure 2. Fruiting bodies or sporocarps of the plasmodial slime mould Stemonitis. Magnification × 4. Photomacrograph © R. L. Blanton.
Figure 3. Scanning electron micrograph of various developmental stages of Dictyostelium discoideum, beginning with the flattened consolidated aggregate in the front right and proceeding clockwise to the mature fruiting body at the far right. The slug is offset to the front left, indicating that slug formation is nonobligate. Magnification × 40. Photomicrograph © M. J. Grimson and R. L. Blanton.
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 References
    Baldauf SL and Doolittle WF (1997) Origin and evolution of the slime molds (Mycetozoa). Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 94: 12007–12012.
    Baldauf SF (1999) A search for the origins of animals and fungi: comparing and combining molecular data. American Naturalist 154(Supplement): S178–S188.
    Braselton JP (1995) Current status of the plasmodiophorids. Critical Reviews in Microbiology 21: 263–275.
    Burland TG, Solnica-Krezel L, Bailey J, Cunningham DB and Dove WF (1993) Patterns of inheritance, development and the mitotic cycle in the protist Physarum polycephalum. Advances in Microbial Physiology 35: 1–69.
    Cavalier-Smith T (1993) Kingdom Protozoa and its 18 phyla. Microbiological Reviews 57: 953–994.
    Darnell JE (1997) Phosphotyrosine signaling and the single cell: metazoan boundary. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 94: 11767–11769.
    Grimson MJ, Coates JC, Reynolds JP et al. (2000) Adherens junctions and -catenin-mediated cell signalling in a non-metazoan organism. Nature 408: 727–731.
    Hausmann K and Stiemerling R (1997) In Memoriam: Karl-Ernst Wohlfarth-Bottermann (1923–1997). European Journal of Protistology 33: 452–459.
    book Karling, JS (1968) The Plasmodiophorales, 2nd edn. New York: Hafner.
    Kuspa A and Loomis WF (1994) Transformation of Dictyostelium: gene disruptions, insertional mutagenesis, and promoter traps. Methods in Molecular Genetics 3: 3–21.
    Loomis WF (1990) Essential genes for development of Dictyostelium. Progress in Molecular and Subcellular Biology 11: 159–183.
    Page FC and Blanton RL (1985) The Heterolobosea (Sarcodina: Rizopoda), a new class uniting the Schizopyrenida and the Acrasidae (Acrasida). Protistologica 21: 121–132.
    Parent CA and Devreotes PN (1996) Molecular genetics of signal transduction in Dictyostelium. Annual Review of Biochemistry 65: 411–440.
    book Porter D (1990) "Phylum Labyrinthulomycota". In: Margulis L, Corliss JO, Melkonian M and Chapman DJ (eds) Handbook of Protoctista, pp. 388–398. Boston, MA: Jones and Bartlett.
    Roger AJ, Smith MW, Doolittle RF and Doolittle WF (1996) Evidence for the Heterolobosea from phylogenetic analysis of genes encoding glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology 43: 475–483.
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 Further Reading
    book Bonner JT (1967) The Cellular Slime Molds. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
    book Buss LW (1987) The Evolution of Individuality. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
    book Kessin RH (2001) Dictyostelium: Evolution, Cell Biology, and the Development of Multicellularity. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
    book Lee JJ, Hutner SH and Bovee EC (1985) Illustrated Guide to the Protozoa. Lawrence, KS: Society of Protozoologists.
    book Loomis WF (1975) Dictyostelium discoideum: A Developmental System. New York: Academic Press.
    book Loomis WF (ed.) (1982) The Development of Dictyostelium discoideum. New York: Academic Press.
    book Maeda Y, Inouye K and Takeuchi I (eds) (1997) Dictyostelium: A Model System for Cell and Developmental Biology. Tokyo: Universal Academy Press.
    book Margulis L, Corliss JO, Melkonian M and Chapman DJ (eds) (1990) Handbook of Protoctista. Boston, MA: Jones and Bartlett.
    book Martin GW and Alexopoulos CJ (1969) The Myxomycetes. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press.
    book Olive LS (1975) The Mycetozoans. New York: Academic Press.
    book Raper KB (1984) The Dictyostelids. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Related Sub-Topics:

Multicellularity | Evolution of Novelty | Classification | Diversity of Life | Microbial Evolution and Taxonomy | Fungi | Protozoa
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Article Title: Slime Moulds
 
How to Cite close
Blanton, Richard L(Apr 2001) Slime Moulds. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1038/npg.els.0001987]