Species-specific cell mobility of bacteria-feeding myxamoebae in plasmodial slime molds

Abstract

On decaying wood or litter in forests, plasmodial slime molds (myxomycetes) represent a large fraction of eukaryotic protists that feed on bacteria. In his seminal book Experimental Physiology of Plants (1865), Julius Sachs referred to the multinucleate plasmodium of myxomycetes, which were considered at that time as primitive plants (or fungi). Today it is well established that myxomycetes are members of the Amoebozoa (Protista). In this study we compare the mobility of myxamoebae of 3 European species, Lycogala epidendrum (order Liceales), Tubulifera arachnoidea, and Trichia decipiens (order Trichiales). Using agar plates, on which 3 separate bacterial species were cultivated as prey organisms (Methylobacterium mesophilicum, Escherichia coli, Agrobacterium tumefaciens), we document large differences in cell motility between the myxomycetes investigated. In addition, we show that the 3 species of myxamoebae can be distinguished based on their average cell size. These data shed light on the mode of co-occurrence via differential substrate utilization in these members of the Amoebozoa.

A four year survey reveals a coherent pattern between occurrence of fruit bodies and soil amoebae populations for nivicolous myxomycetes

“…For DNA extraction from soil 0.25 g fresh soil was lysed and DNA extracted using the epMotion robotic platform (Eppendorf) according to the manufacturer’s protocol. PCR amplifications were done in two steps with the primer pairs: S1/SU19R 55 and S31R/S3b 51 , 56 . Paired-end sequencing was performed on an Illumina MiSeq platform (Illumina Inc., for quality evaluation).…”

Phenotypic plasticity in plasmodial slime molds and molecular phylogeny of terrestrial vs. aquatic species

“…The haploid myxamoebae feed on bacteria or other microorganism, whereas the multinucleate plasmodium grows on various organic substrates (fungal hyphae, algae, bacteria, etc.). After an internal or environmental stimulus, the so-called plasma-organism transforms into a fruiting body (Hoppe and Kutschera 2015 ; Kutschera and Hoppe 2019 ).…”

Ecological aspects of myxomycetes associated with white and brown wood rot on coarse woody debris in subalpine coniferous forests in Central Japan

“…In myxomycetes, a group of fungus-like protists, the reproductive stage comprises an amoeba and the developmental stage comprises spore-containing fruiting bodies (Novozhilov et al, 2017). Myxomycetes typically inhabit coarse woody debris and prey on decomposers such as bacteria and fungi (Clark & Haskins, 2015;Madelin, 1984), and their nutritional preferences may vary between species (Hoppe & Kutschera, 2015). Wood-inhabiting (lignicolous) myxomycetes are associated with the state of decay of dead wood (Novozhilov et al, 2017;Takahashi & Hada, 2009;Xavier de Lima & de Holanda Cavalcanti, 2015), but the factors influencing their association with white and brown rot remain to be clarified.…”