Taxonomic Significance of Isozyme Patterns of Some Myxomycetes, Order Physarales, Produced With Starch Gel Electrophoresis

From morphological to molecular: studies of myxomycetes since the publication of the Martin and Alexopoulos (1969) monograph

“…However, intraspecific variation was also observed for the species represented by multiple isolates in these early studies (Franke and Berry 1972;Franke 1973). It was recognized that before isozyme techniques could be used to address taxonomic questions, the range of isozyme variation within a morphological species would have to be understood, and an analysis of 45 isolates of Fuligo septica produced distinctive variation within that species (Franke et al 1968;Berry and Franke 1973). However, this variation could not be correlated with the geographic origin or the ecological conditions under which the specimen in question developed.…”

“…The earliest efforts to apply non-morphological approaches to the study of myxomycetes involved the use of isozymes to assess the variation within a single species and to examine taxonomic relationships between closely related species (Franke 1967;Franke et al 1968;Franke and Berry 1972;Betterley and Collins 1983). This approach makes use of the variation that exists for certain enzymes in living systems.…”

Electrophoresis

“…Electrophoretic analysis has proved useful for classifying microorganisms (939) , including enteric bacteria (180), mycobacteria (914), Vibrios ( 6 ) , thermophilic aerobic sporeformers (6? ), Endameba (1049), and Candida (110); and in the classification of larger organisms such as myxomycetes (446), fungi (291,990), , plants (179, 1500, 1522, 1323), and insects (197). Each species of primate has a characteristic distribution of blood and urine indoles, amino acids, and imidazoles (1207).…”

“…Analyses of carboxylic (945), aromatic carboxylic and nitrobenzenesulfonic (446) , indole-2-carboxylic (708), and phenylphosphinic and phenylphosphonic (679) acids have been accomplished. Electrophoregrams of polyaminocarboxylic acids can be colored by Folin-Ciocalteau reagent for quantitative measurement (745).…”