Physarum polycephalum
Physarum polycephalum, fructification
Physarum polycephalum is a slime mold species from the order of the Physarida and thus can not be assigned (including Myxomycetes or True slime molds ) the Myxogastria. The species is well understood, since it is often used in laboratories for study purposes.
Features
The yellow to gray (rarely white ), irregular lentil to a disc-shaped or rolled to wound - confluent Sporokarpe are 1 to 1.5 mm wide, 1.5 to 2 mm high, stalked, and are clustered together. The shell of the Sporokarps, the peridium is, membranous, fragile, white or pale yellow, and filled with yellow to white Kalkknötchen. The yellow, translucent handle is long, slender, flexible and twisted into one another, occasionally flattened and widened at the base. The fine, dense scalp is physaroid, thus forming a network in which thickened, irregularly shaped, yellow are to white, calcareous nodes interconnected by thin, translucent and lime-free threads.
The diameter 8 to 11 micrometers measured, roughened to finely spiny spores in mass black - brown, individually in transmitted light purple.
Dissemination
Physarum polycephalum populated rotting wood and the fruit body fleshy fungi. Occasionally fruiting bodies on living plants.
Use
Physarum polycephalum is used in biology as a common model organism for the study of cell motility, cell growth and cell differentiation. Advantageous for handling the ease of cultivation and the size of the cell.
Back in 2000, could be shown that Physarum polycephalum can the shortest path between two points in a maze find the beginning of 2006 the species was used in the Japanese Kobe University in a technical application for the centralized control of a slime mold robot. Early 2010 could be demonstrated that the network formation of Physarum polycephalum skills of a very good balance between redundancy and efficiency showed.
The largest known specimen of this species is also the largest single cell in the world ever: 1987 bred Bonn researchers occasion of the retirement of Karl -Ernst - Wohlfarth Bottermann a 5.54 -square-foot specimen in W shape.