A NATURALLY OCCURRING DEVELOPMENTAL SYNERGISM BETWEEN THE CELLULAR SLIME MOLD,DICTYOSTELIUM MUCOROIDES AND THE FUNGUS,MUCOR HIEMALIS |
| |
| Authors: | Aaron M Ellison Leo W Buss |
| |
| Institution: | Department of Biology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, 06511 |
| |
| Abstract: | We here report the second record of a developmentally aberrant strain of a cellular slime mold from natural populations and demonstrate that this Dictyostelium mucoroides variant is capable of undergoing normal morphogenesis in the presence of the phycomycete fungus, Mucor hiemalis. The synergism is induced by an extracellular product(s) which is diffusable through thin agar membranes and is released by the fungus. The presence of the fungus not only induces stalk formation in this stalkless variant, but also increases the rate of sorocarp formation in 3 of 5 additional species of cellular slime molds assayed. |
| |
| Keywords: | |
|
|
