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Flagella Formation by Myxamoebae of the True Slime Mold. Didymium nigripes *
Author(s) -
KERR NORMAN S.
Publication year - 1960
Publication title -
the journal of protozoology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.067
H-Index - 77
eISSN - 1550-7408
pISSN - 0022-3921
DOI - 10.1111/j.1550-7408.1960.tb00714.x
Subject(s) - flagellate , flagellum , biology , slime mold , population , morphogenesis , botany , microbiology and biotechnology , bacteria , genetics , demography , sociology , gene
SYNOPSIS. For development of flagella by myxamoebae of the true slime mold, Didymium nigripes , optimal results were obtained when they were incubated in 0.05 M NaHCOa (pH 9.1). Streptomycin inhibited flagella formation in pH 6.2 phosphate buffer but had no effect in NaHC0 3 . The time necessary for 50% of the population of myxamoebae to become flagellated was independent of the concentration of myxamoebae; hence, the morphogenesis probably follows first‐order kinetics. The acquisition of flagella was divisible into 4 stages by means of time‐lapse cinephotomicroscopy: an ameboid stage, a stage of morphogenesis, an ameboid‐flagellate stage, and a free‐swimming flagellate stage. At least 90% of the population developed flagella within 60 min. under optimal conditions. The flagellar apparatus consists of a long and a short flagellum, each arising from a granule in the blepharo‐plast. The blepharoplast is connected to the nucleus by a rhizoplast.