At 3:34 PM -0500 2/6/98, Lamberts, William wrote:
>Plant-edders
>>I am planning a lab involving the acellular slime mold Physarum. I would l=
ike
>my students to be able to observe the sporangia. Can anyone tell what
>conditions will induce the formation of sporangia?
Bill,
Physarum does this spontaneously in my hands and most
typically as it runs out of nutrients and I allow
the plasmodium to dry out too slowly to form a
sclerotium.
Try this: grow a large plasmodium on 2% agar in a Petri
dish feeding oat flakes. After it fills the dish,
stop the feedings and remove excess flakes. Leave
it open without a cover and allow the agar to dry out.
The agar allows a slow dry which usually prompts sporangium
formation for me.
My problem has been trying to get the plasmodium to
reliably form a sclerotium that can be stored between
semesters. Culture on paper and rapid drying seems
to be the only way that even partially works and then
I often get sclerotium that does not seem to "reanimate"
after storage. So I'd appreciate comment on that topic.
ross
________________________________________________________________
Ross Koning | koning at ecsu.ctstateu.edu
Biology Department | http://koning.ecsu.ctstateu.edu/
Eastern CT State University | phone: 860-465-5327
Willimantic, CT 06226 USA | fax: 860-465-4479
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