Abstract
Observations of sporophore development in fresh and glutaraldehydeosmium sequentially-fixed material ofProtophysarum phloiogenum show the following sequence. Small plasmodia cease streaming and round up. Food vacuoles collect in the lower center of the cytoplasmic mass. As the cytoplasm rises the food vacuolar contents are excluded from the plasmalemma and become the stalk core. A continuous, fibrous peridium and stalk tube enclose cytoplasm and stalk core respectively. Capillitial formation just precedes spore cleavage. Sporophore development is marked by autophagic activity and calcium deposition.
Stalks of dried herbarium specimens of seven additional species have been examined. A mature stalk morphology very similar toProtophysarum with recognizable remnants of microorganismal food material is seen in all of them. It is thought that this marker is indicative of non-stemonitaceous stalk development.
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Blackwell, M. A study of sporophore development in the myxomyceteProtophysarum phloiogenum . Arch. Microbiol. 99, 331–344 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00696247
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00696247