Casey Jon Vea PPATH 104 Plant Pathology 104 Laboratory Exercise 2 Kingdom Protoctista: Phylum Myxomycota Class

Myxomycetes: The True Slime Molds 1. Draw the life cycle of a species of Ceratiomyxa. Label the structures in the life cycle.

Figure 2.1. Life cycle of Ceratiomyxa fruticolosa Ceratiomyxa differs from different myxomycetes in bearing its spores externally on the surfaces of column-like sporophores. The plasmodium emerges and fruits to form erect single or branched white pillars. On the surface of these pillars is where unicellular, globose stalked spores develop. Spores are first uninucleate but later become 4 nucleate. Spore germination produce single, quadrinucliate, naked protoplast which may form into filamentous stage. In this life cycle however, no filamentous stage is formed instead the naked protoplast escapes from the germinating spores. The four nuclei undergo mitosis ad protoplast then cleave into tetrad of globose, uninucleate segments. Each cell of tetrad undergoes a further mitotic division, after which the cells divide to form 8-celled clump. Each of the cells releases a swarmer which is uniflagellate or unequally biflagellate. The flagellate swarm cells fuse in pairs to initiate diploid phase in the form of plasmodium. (Sharma, )

2. Give the type(s) of plasmodium produced by each order Table 2.1. The different types of plasmodium produced by the orders of the class Myxomycota Myxomycete Order Trichiales Physarales Stemonitales Liceales Echinosteliales Ceratiomyxales Type(s) of Plasmodium Plasmodia are intermediate between aphanoplasmodia and phaneroplasmodia Typical phaneroplasmodia Typical aphanoplasmodium Some of the smaller species produce protoplasmodia, but most have phaneroplasmodia Protoplasmodium Protoplasmodium

3. How does a myxomycete differ from the dictyostelid. Prepare a table to enumerate bases or criteria of comparison. Table 2.2. Difference between a Dictyostelid and a Myxomycete. Characteristics Growth Habit Cell Wall Flagella Dictyostelids (Represented by Dictyostelium) Unicellular myxamoeba, multicellular dispersal structures None in myxamoeba, cellulose in sporangium None Myxomycetes (Represented by Physarum) Multinucleate single-cell plasmodium None One or two whiplash on aquatic haploid uninucleate cells; otherwise none Plasmodium; meiosporangia often clustered Swarm cells or Amoeba Zygote Sporangium Sporangiospore none Plasmodium

Unique Characteristics Plasmogamy Karyogamy Meiosis Site Product Asexual Thallus Mating

slugs, individual stalked sporangia Amoeba Macrocysts Macrocysts Amoeba Sorocarp spores Pseudoplasmodium

4. List another genus other than the ones mentioned from the above orders. Draw and give the characteristics.

Characteristics: The genus Lamproderma was described by Rostafinski in 1871. It belongs to order Stemonitales, family Stemonitidaceae. The genus is recognized by globose, usually stipitate sporocarps, a persistent and iridescent peridium, the presenc of columella, the capilitium usually originating from the apex of the columella and the dark brown to blackish spores in mass. Furthermore, some study of the genus also revealed that some species of Lamproderma has a silvery brown sporotheca, a persistent and areolate peridium, and ferruginous-brown spores in mass, which were pale brown under transmitted light.

Literature cited Bonner, J.T. (1959). The Cellular Slime molds. Princeton, New Jersey; Princeton University Press. Griffin, D.H. (1994). Fungal physiology (2nd ed.). USA; Wiley-Liss, Inc. Ronikier, A., Lado, C., Meyer, M., & De Basanta, D. W. (2010). Two new species of nivicolous Lamproderma (Myxomycetes) from the mountains of Europe and America. Mycologia, 102(3), 718-728. Sharma, P.D. (2004). The Fungi (2nd ed.). Meerut, India; Rakesh Kumar Rastogi for Rastogi Publications Webster, J. & Weber, R.W.S. (2007). Introduction to fungi (3rd ed.). Cambridge UK; Cambridge University Press.