Are slime molds pathogenic?

Are slime molds pathogenic?

Although slime molds are not pathogenic to plants, they occasionally cause indirect injury when they cover and shade plant tissues for extended periods of time. Slime molds are fungi in the class Myxomycetes. These are cosmopolitan organisms that feed on bacteria, protozoa, and other tiny organisms.

Why is Physarum Polycephalum important?

Physarum Polycephalum, a plasmodial slime mold, researches important problems from a non-human perspective, and enhances intellectual life on campus by helping students and colleagues to think about the world without human biases.

What are characteristics of Physarum?

Physarum polycephalum is a myxomycete, or plasmodial slime mold. It takes on many shapes and sizes throughout its life, morphing from microscopic amoeba to a multinucleate syncytium that can be several feet across and then forming millimeter-scale delicate, mushroom-like fruiting bodies.

What is the significance of slime molds in the ecosystem?

Slime molds offer important ecological functions as significant decomposers and nutrient recyclers, and as part of the food chain, consuming microorganisms and moving this food energy into the food web, as they are consumed by larger animals.

Is slime mold a protist?

Slime molds were formerly classified as fungi but are no longer considered part of that kingdom. Although not forming a single monophyletic clade, they are grouped within the paraphyletic group referred to as kingdom Protista. More than 900 species of slime mold occur globally.

What do you know about Physarum Polycephalum?

Physarum polycephalum is a myxomycete, or plasmodial slime mold. It takes on many shapes and sizes throughout its life, morphing from microscopic amoeba to a multinucleate syncytium which can be as large as several feet across, and then forming millimeter-scale delicate, mushroom-like fruiting bodies.

Are Physarum heterotrophic or autotrophic?

Since they are heterotrophic, mobile and (generally) unicellular they used to be considered ‘protozoa’; other early treatments put them with fungi because they produce spores and fruiting bodies.

What is Physarum Polycephalum made up of?

Physarum polycephalum, an acellular slime mold or myxomycete popularly known as “the blob”, is a protist with diverse cellular forms and broad geographic distribution.

What type of protist is slime molds?

Slime molds are protists, which are eukaryotic microorganisms that can’t be classified as belonging to either the animal, plant, fungus, or bacteria kingdoms. Slime molds are a type of protist that aggregate into colonies and ingest bacteria, fungal spores, and other protists.

What type of organism is Physarum polycephalum?

Physarum Polycephalum. P. polycephalum, also known as slime mold, is a single celled Eukaryotic organism that grows in the understory or damp, dark places (i.e. rotting material). It is typically yellow in color and consumes other microorganisms, such as fungal spores and bacteria.

Is Physarum polycephalum a myxomycete?

II.B. Myxomycetes: The Slimes, They Are A-Changin’! Physarum polycephalum is a myxomycete, or plasmodial slime mold.

Is Physarum polycephalum on the rise again?

Physarum Polycephalum as grown in a petri-dish. Image Courtesy of Hans-Günther Döbereiner (Guest Editor) Being somewhat dormant for a while, the slime is on the rise again! Within the last decade, a growing number of papers on the fascinating dynamics and structure formation found in the slime mold Physarum polycephalum have appeared.

Does Physarum have a cell wall?

Physarumis an acellular slime mold, meaning it is syncytial; nuclei are separate but there are no cell walls or membranes. The multi- nucleated organism moves and behaves like a giant amoeba. Migrating plasmodia of Physarum are typically fan-shaped and are com- posed of a network of vein-like strands or tubules.