Premium
SPORE ULTRASTRUCTURE OF THE MYXOMYCETE PHYSARUM POLYCEPHALUM
Author(s) -
Randall L. P.,
Lynch D. L.
Publication year - 1974
Publication title -
american journal of botany
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.218
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1537-2197
pISSN - 0002-9122
DOI - 10.1002/j.1537-2197.1974.tb10790.x
Subject(s) - physarum polycephalum , spore , biology , ultrastructure , physarum , mycetozoa , sporangium , sporogenesis , interphase , cleavage (geology) , organelle , megaspore , microbiology and biotechnology , botany , meiosis , genetics , dictyostelium discoideum , paleontology , fracture (geology) , gene
Spores of the true slime mold Physarum polycephalum were examined at several stages of their development by means of scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The spores were globose, spine‐covered structures produced within a sporangium enclosed in a tough, noncellular peridium. Cytologically, the spore represented a typical eukaryotic cell, having discrete organelles similar to spores of other myxomycetes. The presence of dictyosomes, helical filaments, and microbodies in these cells, as well as the further elucidation of the cell wall and the “polysaccharide‐containing” areas, represent new contributions to the ultrastructure of the myxomycete spore. Of special interest were observations of metaphase nuclei just prior to spore cleavage, interphase nuclei in young spores, and nuclei in mature spores containing synaptonemal complexes. These observations indicate that in Physarum polycephalum mitosis occurs just prior to spore cleavage, and meiosis takes place after spore cleavage.