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Electron Microscope Observations on Spore Formation in the True Slime Mold Didymium nigripes
Author(s) -
SCHUSTER FREDERICK
Publication year - 1964
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.1550-7408.1964.tb01742.x
Subject(s) - protoplasm , sporangium , spore , biology , slime mold , ultrastructure , electron microscope , botany , budding , sporogenesis , biophysics , bleb (medicine) , cytoplasm , microbiology and biotechnology , physics , optics , trabeculectomy , neuroscience , glaucoma
SYNOPSIS. Developing and mature sporangia of the true slime mold Didymium nigripes were studied with the electron microscope to follow the course of spore formation. The sporangium forms from the plasmodium as a protoplasmic bleb which differentiates into a stalk and an apical sphere containing a mass of protoplasm. Nuclei within this protoplasmic mass undergo synchronous division (presumably meiosis). The division spindle forms within the nuclear membrane which is retained intact throughout the division; centrioles have not been observed at the spindle poles. At the same time the nuclei are dividing, the protoplasm cleaves to give ultimately uninucleate spheres—the incipient spores. Capillitial threads come to lie in the furrows created by the cleaving protoplasm. A wall consisting of an inner thick component and an outer thin component forms about each sphere. Cyto‐chemical tests suggest that the inner wall of the spore is cellulose‐containing and that the outer component might contain chitin.