Physarum (Cherry_Chow)
Updated on 10/08/2012


Other Photos of Topic Fungal-like organisms


Description


Location

Cultured specimen provided by Mr. Woo

Comments

Can you tell the ploidity of the specimen?
by Cherry_Chow (Teacher) at 2012-08-16 14:58:37
this is a haploid specimen :p
How to keep a slime mold in lab setting?
by LEE_TomChunWa (Student) at 2019-10-16 23:26:56
Hi Tom, we kept the specimen in dark and room temperature. It can only be kept alive for a few weeks.
Are you sure the the specimen is haploid? Have you checked with the life cycle?
by Cherry_Chow (Teacher) at 2019-12-31 16:47:24
The ploidity of the specimen is diploid (2n)


Physarum reproduce mainly sexually by production of haploid spores. When food or water supply is inadequate, the entire plasmodium (2n) converts to a mass of stalked sporangia (2n). Meiosis then takes place in the sporangia and spore (n) are developed. Eventually the sporangia surface ruptures and releases the spores inside. After germination, spores either develop into myxamoebae (n) stage or flagellated gametes (n) stage, with the two stages interchangeable. The myxamobae or flagellated gametes undergo plasmogamy with the cell of the same stage and eventually undergo karyogamy to become a zygote (2n). Finally the zygote develops into a new plasmodium and the life cycle starts again.
by Shailee Vaishnav (Student) at 2020-11-13 23:52:26
The specimen is diploid.
The multinucleate plasmodium is the main vegetative phase of the Physarum life cycle. It is an active stage as Physarum keeps moving and searching for food. Plasmodium relies on the Ca2+ wave to produce the contraction and relaxation of cytoplasm, resulting in pulsating cytoplasmic streaming which allows Physarum to move towards the food particles and engulf it.
It is also worth noticing that although Physarum has no brain or neurons, it can still solve the shortest path problems by taking the shortest distance to reach the food.
by Tam Hoi Yan (Student) at 2020-11-22 00:52:02
Shailee Vaishnav: thanks for the info about the life cycle.
Hoi Yan: thanks for the molecular details.
by Cherry_Chow (Teacher) at 2020-12-10 18:37:47


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petal , sepal , pileus , pistil , suspensor , stipe , epidermis , ovule , Labellum , stamen