GMU:DIY Bio: doing things with biology/Niloofar Ghanavati/Initial Idea: Difference between revisions

GMU:DIY Bio: doing things with biology/Niloofar Ghanavati/Initial Idea (view source)

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 As is the case with many other acellular slime molds, Physarum polycephalum feeds on bacteria and fungi as well as bits of decaying organic material (i.e. it is holozoic). The most commonly-observed form is the plasmodium.
-;The plasmodium is the main vegetative phase of the life cycle. Usually diploid, it is a large syncytium (multiple nuclei in a common cytoplasm) that can grow to very large sizes (under laboratory conditions it can be many centimeters in extent). The plasmodium diagrammed here is in the actively migrating stage, "searching" for additional food. Such plasmodia either cease to migrate when they encounter a fresh source or enter one of two other stages.
+- The plasmodium is the main vegetative phase of the life cycle. Usually diploid, it is a large syncytium (multiple nuclei in a common cytoplasm) that can grow to very large sizes (under laboratory conditions it can be many centimeters in extent). The plasmodium diagrammed here is in the actively migrating stage, "searching" for additional food. Such plasmodia either cease to migrate when they encounter a fresh source or enter one of two other stages.
 .Under certain conditions of starvation and dessication, plasmodia assume a dormant stage called sclerotia. Properly-prepared and -stored sclerotia can be stored for many years and then reactivated by placing small fragments on a moist food source; a favorite such food (for biologists who study plasmodia) is oatmeal flakes.