Summary
Mutagenesis of the nematophagous fungusDactylella brochopaga resulted in the production of a giant constricting trap strain. This strain regularly produced traps with a diameter of about five times that of wild type. Subsequent analysis of the dimensions of the various trap sizes suggests that the organism regulates the trap cell's surface to volume ratio in order that the trap remain functional. This is achieved by reducing the trap cell's length to width ratio, allometrically. The equation expressing this proportionality is derived.
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Insell, J.P., Zachariah, K. A biomettical analysis of the giant constricting ring mutant of the predacious fungusDactylella brochopaga . Protoplasma 93, 305–310 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01275661
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01275661