Myxomycetes Physarum polycephalum

An increase in the level of amylase activity was observed on hybridization of a hyperderepressed strain of Neurospora crassa with the normal strain. Both a- and P-D-glucosidases have been detected in axenic cultures of the myxomycete Physarum polycephalum. ... 

Low levels of a-D-mannosidase activity occur in axenic culture media of the myxomycete Physarum polycephalum. ... 

Cultivation of the plasmodium of myxomycetes in a practical scale has been known only for very limited species. Physarum polycephalum may be the most familiar species of myxomycetes because of the ease with which its plasmodium may be grown in the laboratory. It has been therefore used extensively in physiological, biochemical, and genetic studies as well as in schools for model organisms. Mass culture of the plasmodia of Physarum polycephalum... 

Mr 453.49, yellow powder, [a]o +7.2° (CH3OH). A pentaene pigment from plasmodia of the slime mold Physarum polycephalum. P. and related compounds appear to play a role as photoreceptors in the life cycle of this myxomycete (see also fuligoru-bin A). 

Plasmodial slime moulds, with an amoeboid trophic (feeding) phase, a plasmodial phase also able to ingest fod particles, and multicellular fruit bodies. Contains two classes, the Myxomycetes and Protosteliomycetes, only the former being dealt with in the present work. Didymium iridis Physarum polycephalum... 

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