Slime moulds (or Slime molds in American English) are peculiar protists that normally take the form of amoebae, but under certain conditions develop fruiting bodies that release spores, superficially similar to the sporangia of fungi. They should not be confused with true moulds, which are actually fungi. Although cosmopolitan in distribution, they are usually small and rarely noticed. There are several different groups.

Most notable are the plasmodial slime moulds or myxogastrids (also known as acellular or true slime moulds), where the feeding stage takes the form of a giant amoeba with thousands of nuclei, called a plasmodium. It is not divided by cell membranes, but rather is enclosed by a single outer one, and is thus like a single large cell. Most are smaller than a few centimetres, but the very largest reach areas of up to two square metres, making them the largest undivided cells known. Many have bright colours such as yellow, brown, and white. Under dry conditions they may form resting structures called sclerotia. Once produced, spores release biflagellate or amoeboid gametes, which fuse pairwise to produce new plasmodia.

More on [ Slime mould ]

Myxomycota - Twitter Search

New Word: division Myxomycota stands for slime molds - http://www.stand-for.com/what-does-division-myxomycota-stand-for.html #dictionary
endictionary (stand for) Sat, 02 Jan 2010 16:30:02 -0000
New Word: division Myxomycota stands for slime molds - http://www.stand-for.com/what-does-division-myxomycota-stand-for.html #dictionary

Subscribe to Myxomycota RSS feed