Myxomycota (Slime moulds)

Introduction to Myxomycota
When the first slime moulds were described by Johann H. F. Link in 1833, they were
given the term myxomycetes (Gr. Myxa-slime). Link used the suffix -mycetes because of the
superficial similarity of the fructifications of slime moulds with the fruiting bodies of certain
fungi. Although it has been appreciated for some time that they lack any true relationship with
the Eumycota, slime moulds have nonetheless been studied mainly by mycologists rather than
protozoologists, probably because they occur in the same habitats as fungi. Slime moulds differ
substantially from the Eumycota not only in phylogenetic terms, but also regarding their
physiology and ecology. Their vegetative state is that of individual amoebae in the cellular slime
moulds, or of a multinuclear (coenocytic) plasmodium in the plasmodial slime moulds. Motile
stages bearing usually two anterior whiplash-type flagella may be present in the plasmodial slime
moulds. Amoebae or plasmodia feed by the ingestion (phagocytosis) of bacteria, yeast cells or
other amoebae. This is followed by intracellular digestion in vacuoles. The mode of nutrition in
slime moulds is therefore fundamentally different from extracellular degradation and absorption
as shown by Eumycota.

Classification of Myxomycota
Myxomycota has been divided in the following four classes.
1. Acrasiomycetes
2. Dictyosteliomycetes
3. Protosteliomycetes
4. Myxomycetes

Myxomycetes
The Myxomycetes are by far the largest group of slime moulds, comprising some 800
species in 62 genera which are currently divided into five orders. These are the familiar slime
moulds so common on moist, decaying wood and other organic substrata. They are also abundant
in soil and may fulfill ecological functions which are as yet poorly understood. The vegetative
phase is a free-living plasmodium, i.e. a multinucleate wall-less mass of protoplasm. This may or
may not be covered by a slime sheath. Plasmodia vary in size and can be loosely grouped into
the following three categories.
1. Protoplasmodia are inconspicuous microscopic structures usually giving rise only to a
single sporangium. They resemble the simple plasmodia of protostelids.
2. Aphanoplasmodia (Gr. aphanes = invisible) are thin open networks of plasmodial strands.
The aphanoplasmodium is transparent, with individual strands only 5-10 mm wide and
the entire plasmodium about 100-200 mm in diameter. Most aphanoplasmodia are only
seen with the aid of a dissection microscope.
3. Phaneroplasmodia (Gr. Phaneros=visible) are large sheets or networks with conspicuous
veins within which the protoplasm shows rhythmic and reversible streaming, each pulse
lasting about 60-90 s. This striking phenomenon is readily observed with a dissection
microscope and is probably due to interactions of Ca+2 ions with cytoskeletal elements
lining the veins.
Classification of Myxomycetes
Myxomycetes have been divided into the following five orders.
 1. Echinosteliales
2. Liceales
3. Trichiales
4. Stemonitales
5. Physarales

Physarum polycephalum as a suitable example of Myxomycota

Systematic position

Kingdom: Mycota
Division: Eumycota
Phylum: Myxomycota
Class: Myxomycetes
Order: Physarales
Family: Physaraceae
Genus: Physarum
Species: polycephalum

Physarum polycephalum is a typical myxomycete. The vegetative body is a plasmodium

consisting of a naked mass of multinucleate protoplasm. The cytoplasm of the plasmodium can
be differentiated into outer and inner layers. The outer layer contains no nucleus while the inner
layer is granular containing a number of nuclei. The number nuclei increase as a result of mitosis
with increase in the size of plasmodium. A mature plasmodium may contain a number of
vacuoles and several thousand nuclei. The color of the plasmodium may be white or may have
some shades of yellow, orange, red, brown or violet. The plasmodium is diploid. Sometimes,
plasmodium moves by the formation of pseudopodia and feeds by phagocytosis of bacteria,
yeasts or fungal mycelia or spores. This is followed by intracellular digestion in vacuoles.
It gives rise to a sporophore under appropriate conditions. The haploid spores are
dispersed by wind or insects and, depending on environmental conditions such as moisture,
germinate by releasing either amoebae or zoospores (swarmers) with usually two anterior
whiplash flagella, of which one is shorter than the other and is thus often invisible. The amoebae
are called myxamoebae, in order to distinguish them from the amoebae of cellular slime moulds
which have a different function in the life cycle.
Reproduction
Although Myxomycetes are animal like in their vegetative state but their reproduction is
distinctly plant like.
Vegetative reproduction
Vegetative reproduction in Physarum polycephalum is brought about by fragmentation
and by the formation of sclerotia.
Asexual reproduction
When reproduction is to occur, the saprophytic species which lives in darkness and
diffused light under the logs and leaves migrate to more brightly illuminated and drier sides of
substratum and contracts in a cushion-like mass. This change in behavior enables the
plasmodium to become better suited to the scattering of spores. As it hardens, it forms one or
more projections or papillae over the surface of plasmodium and these groups to form the
sporangia. In some species, the entire plasmodium may be converted into a single giant
sporangium, called a aethalium but more commonly, a number of small separate sporangia are
formed. They may be either sessile or stalked. The sporangia of myxomycetes are amongst the
most strikingly beautiful objects in the plant world because of their bright colors, which may be
white, violet, purple, orange, brown, etc.
A sporangium is surrounded by wall-like layer, the peridium and contains several nuclei
and remains of the plasmodium. The remains of plasmodium form a network of tough strands
known as capillitium. In the meshes of this net-work, the protoplast divides into a large number
of small uni-nucleated resting spores, each surrounded by a thick wall. When fully matures, the
wall of the sporangium ruptures irregularly at the apex and the spores are ejected by the
hydroscopic movements of capillitium. The ejected spores are dispersed by wind.
The resting spores of myxomycetes are very resistant to unfavorable conditions,
specifically in the prolonged periods of desiccation. They even are capable of germination after
52 years of storage in herbarium. Spores are germinated on the logs, dead leaves, soil or some
other substratum in the presence of moisture and suitable temperature. Spores on germination
produce a single amoeboid structure which develops a flagellum after emergence. Sometimes 3-8
such amoeboid structures may be produces. These amoeboid protoplasts soon develop into free-
living swarmers (zoospores) bearing two equal flagella. As the swarmers feed and grow, nuclear
division may take place and they may undergo repeated divisions with consequent formation of a
number of daughter-swarm cells. They keep moving for some time by their flagella, but later on
the flagella are retracted and the protoplast again becomes amoeboid. The amoeboid creeping
cells are called myxameoba. They digest food and may undergo multiplication by mitosis. A
single myxamoeba may divide successively into as many as 300 daughter myxamoeba in three
days. Under adverse conditions, they rest and germinate on the approach of favorable conditions.

Sexual reproduction
Sexual reproduction is initiated when two haploid myxamoebae or swarmers of
compatible mating type fuse to form a zygote from which the diploid plasmodium develops. In
sexual reproduction, the entire content of a plasmodium is converted into one or more sporangia
in which meiosis takes place. These sporangia produce haploid myxamoeba. The haploid
myxamoeba fuse with on another forming amoeboid zygote that grow directly into a creeping
amoeboid plasmodium, which become multi-nucleate by repeated mitotic divisions of the fusion
nucleus.