Physarum polycephalum. De novo plasmodia plus spore case.

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Comment by Natalie Andrew on April 17, 2015 at 14:39

There's this classic: http://jcs.biologists.org/content/107/8/2071.full.pdf Actually, re-reading this one makes me think that the big 'spores' in the video are actually cysts. I've tried cAMP on the plasmodium and it has very little reaction, perhaps it's still secreting it to the amoebas though?

Comment by ian on April 17, 2015 at 5:29

I'd put money on cAMP being involved,  might do a Friday afternoon literature trawl after my real work's done.  Are these guys able to divide during their free living phase? I've never found an answer to that question 

Comment by Natalie Andrew on April 17, 2015 at 3:15

On agar with E. coli B/r. Catching fusion would be amazeballs. I swear I can see amoebas trying desperately to fuse with already-fused tiny plasmodia. I wonder if there's a 'fusion-signal' in a sub-population of cells??

Comment by ian on April 16, 2015 at 8:13

Were these guys in water or on agar? 

I'd love to catch the moment that two cells fuse and start to form a plasmodium, something tells me that might be quite difficult to achieve though.

Comment by Natalie Andrew on April 8, 2015 at 19:13

Thanks. I'm not sure if uploading to youtube messes around with image size but there is a little scale bar for 20 microns in the bottom right. The larger plasmodium is about 400 microns tall. This field of view should be similar with a 20x lens on an upright microscope.