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Variation in the Cellular Slime Mold Acrasis rosea *
Author(s) -
OLIVE L. S.,
DUTTA S. K.,
STOIANOVITCH CARMEN
Publication year - 1961
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.1550-7408.1961.tb01243.x
Subject(s) - slime mold , biology , sexual reproduction , microorganism , ploidy , spore , yeast , botany , bacteria , genetics , gene
A number of isolates of the cellular slime mold, Acrasis rosea , differed from each other in the range of microorganisms on which they could grow and fruit. In a test for the possible occurrence of sexual reproduction and genetic recombination, two of the most widely divergent of these physiological races were studied further. Mixed colonies were obtained in agar plate cultures of Rhodotorula mucilaginosa , a yeast utilized by both. When spores from mature fruiting bodies or amoebae migrating out from the mixed colonies were isolated singly, regrown on Rhodotorula , and tested on a critical spectrum of food microorganisms, about 3‐4% proved to be distinct from the original two strains. Although some of these new types remained stable for several transfers, they eventually reverted to one or both of the parental types. The possibilities of explaining the neotypes on the basis of diploidy, heterokaryosis, or mixed cytoplasmic effects are discussed. The occurrence of cell anastomoses and occasional binucleate cells favors the latter two possibilities.