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A new type of plasmodium formation in Physarum polycephalum

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 April 2009

Roger W. Anderson  and
Christine L. Truitt
Roger W. Anderson
Affiliation:
Department of Biochemistry, University of Oxford, Oxford 0X1 3QU, England
Christine L. Truitt
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
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Haploid amoebae of Physarum polycephalum may form plasmodia sexually by ‘crossing’, which involves cellular and nuclear fusion, or asexually by ‘selfing’, which occurs without nuclear fusion. In most amoebal strains, selfing is seen in clonal cultures only at very low frequency. In the present study, we have shown that selfing occurs at a similarly low frequency in mixtures of crossing-incompatible amoebae, but is stimulated in crossing-compatible mixtures. In certain compatible mixtures involving mutant strains, where crossing is temperature-sensitive, selfing may be stimulated even at a temperature that largely or wholly abolishes crossing. The extent to which selfing is stimulated appears to be influenced by matB, a locus which is known to affect the frequency of amoebal fusion. We have failed to detect any filter-transmissible factor that might be responsible for the effects we have observed. We suggest a sequence of events that might bring about ‘stimulated selfing’ as a consequence of abortive crossing.

Type
Research Article
Information
Genetics Research , Volume 42 , Issue 3 , December 1983 , pp. 285 - 296
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1983

References

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