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Slime mold or slime mould is an informal name given to a paraphyletic assemblage of unrelated eukaryotic organisms in the Stramenopiles, Rhizaria, Discoba, Amoebozoa and Holomycota. Most are microscopic; those in the Myxogastria form larger plasmodial slime molds visible to the naked eye. The slime mold life cycle includes a free-living single-celled stage and the formation of spores. Spores are often produced in macroscopic multicellular or multinucleate fruiting bodies which may be formed through aggregation or fusion; aggregation is driven by chemical signals called acrasins. Slime molds contribute to the decomposition of dead vegetation; some are parasitic.
The dictyostelids or cellular slime molds are a group of slime molds or social amoebae.
Mycetozoa is a polyphyletic grouping of slime molds. It was originally thought to be a monophyletic clade, but recently it was discovered that protostelia are a polyphyletic group within Conosa.
Dictyostelium is a genus of single- and multi-celled eukaryotic, phagotrophic bacterivores. Though they are Protista and in no way fungal, they traditionally are known as "slime molds". They are present in most terrestrial ecosystems as a normal and often abundant component of the soil microflora, and play an important role in the maintenance of balanced bacterial populations in soils.
Cell migration is a central process in the development and maintenance of multicellular organisms. Tissue formation during embryonic development, wound healing and immune responses all require the orchestrated movement of cells in particular directions to specific locations. Cells often migrate in response to specific external signals, including chemical signals and mechanical signals. Errors during this process have serious consequences, including intellectual disability, vascular disease, tumor formation and metastasis. An understanding of the mechanism by which cells migrate may lead to the development of novel therapeutic strategies for controlling, for example, invasive tumour cells.
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The family Acrasidae is a family of slime molds which belongs to the excavate group Percolozoa. The name element acrasio- comes from the Greek akrasia, meaning "acting against one's judgement". This group consists of cellular slime molds.
John Tyler Bonner was an American biologist who was a professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University. He was a pioneer in the use of cellular slime molds to understand evolution and development over a career of 40 years and was one of the world's leading experts on cellular slime moulds. Arizona State University says that the establishment and growth of developmental-evolutionary biology owes a great debt to the work of Bonner's studies. His work is highly readable and unusually clearly written and his contributions have made many complicated ideas of biology accessible to a wide audience.
Cyclic AMP receptors from slime molds are a distinct family of G-protein coupled receptors. These receptors control development in Dictyostelium discoideum.
In enzymology, a glycosaminoglycan galactosyltransferase is an enzyme that catalyzes the chemical reaction
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Lee Aaron Segel (1932–2005) was an applied mathematician primarily at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the Weizmann Institute of Science. He is particularly known for his work in the spontaneous appearance of order in convection, slime molds and chemotaxis.
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An amoeba, often called an amoeboid, is a type of cell or unicellular organism with the ability to alter its shape, primarily by extending and retracting pseudopods. Amoebae do not form a single taxonomic group; instead, they are found in every major lineage of eukaryotic organisms. Amoeboid cells occur not only among the protozoa, but also in fungi, algae, and animals.
Paul Thomas Sharpe is a British biologist who is the Dickinson Professor of Craniofacial Biology and Director, Centre for Craniofacial and Regenerative Biology, King's College London.
References
- ↑ King, Robert C. (2013). A dictionary of genetics. Mulligan, Pamela Khipple, 1953-, Stansfield, William D., 1930- (8th ed.). New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-937686-5. OCLC 871046520.
- ↑ Shaffer, B. M. (1956-06-29). "Properties of acrasin". Science. 123 (3209): 1172–1173. Bibcode:1956Sci...123.1172S. doi:10.1126/science.123.3209.1172. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 13337336.
- ↑ Heftmann, Erich; Wright, Barbara E.; Liddel, Gerald U. (December 1959). "Identification of a Sterol with Acrasin Activity in a Slime Mold". Journal of the American Chemical Society. 81 (24): 6525–6526. doi:10.1021/ja01533a054. ISSN 0002-7863.
- ↑ Shimomura, O.; Suthers, H. L.; Bonner, J. T. (1982-12-01). "Chemical identity of the acrasin of the cellular slime mold Polysphondylium violaceum". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 79 (23): 7376–7379. Bibcode:1982PNAS...79.7376S. doi: 10.1073/pnas.79.23.7376 . ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 347342 . PMID 6961416.