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A study on the amoebo-flagellate transformation in the slime moldEchinostelium minutum de Bary

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Summary

The structure and behavior of the non-flagellate and flagellate phases of the slime moldEchinostelium minutum de Bary are here described from living cultures examined with phasecontrast microscopy. The ultrastructure of the myxamoebal and swarm cell phases was studied in sectioned material fixed sequentially with glutaraldehyde-acrolein and OsO4.

The nearly spherical myxamoeba has two pairs of juxtanuclear centrioles with associated microtubular arrays. During the amoebo-flagellate transformation each pair of centrioles assumes an anterior position in the cell and becomes arranged at right angles to one another within a cone of microtubules. This microtubular cytoskeleton extending under the plasmalemma establishes the twisted, narrowly ovoid form of the swarm cell. Each centriole functions potentially as a basal body. When transformed in phosphate buffer pH 6.8 at 12 °C and a cell concentration of 5×105/ml, the myxamoebae develop 1 to 8 flagella. The average number of flagella per swarm cell is 2.7. After approximately 2 hours the swarm cells begin to revert to myxamoebae by resorption of their flagella. The phylogenetic implications of these light and ultrastructural observations are discussed with regard to possible evolutionary relationships between theProtostelia andMyxomycetes.

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  1. E. F. Haskins

    Present address: Department of Botany, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, USA

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    1. E. F. Haskins
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    Haskins, E.F. A study on the amoebo-flagellate transformation in the slime moldEchinostelium minutum de Bary. Protoplasma 94, 193–206 (1978). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01276771

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01276771

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