Thinking Slime Moulds
Posted on January 27, 2008 Comments (3)
The amoeba Physarum polycephalum is quite a performer as it has been able to navigate mazes and solve simple puzzles.
…
Nakagaki, T., Yamada, H. & A. Tóth. “Intelligence: Maze-solving by an amoeboid organism” Nature 407, 470 (2000).
The plasmodium of the slime mould Physarum polycephalum is a large amoeba-like cell consisting of a dendritic network of tube-like structures (pseudopodia). It changes its shape as it crawls over a plain agar gel and, if food is placed at two different points, it will put out pseudopodia that connect the two food sources. Here we show that this simple organism has the ability to find the minimum-length solution between two points in a labyrinth.
However slime moulds do exhibit characteristics of both fungi and animals. In the feeding stage, the slime moulds moves about as a mass of protoplasm (the plasmodium) feeding on bacteria, spores, and other organic matter much like an amoeba. When the food supply is exhausted or other unfavourable conditions occur, the plasmodium changes, taking on the appearance of a fungus.
Related: Microbe Types – Plants, Unikonts, Excavates and SARs
3 Responses to “Thinking Slime Moulds”
Leave a Reply
April 21st, 2008 @ 10:13 am
[…] is full of amazing new frontiers. Some other amazing stuff: Thinking Slime Moulds – Tracking the Ecosystem Within Us – Retroviruses – Energy Efficiency of Digestion – One […]
December 22nd, 2008 @ 8:47 am
[…] Thinking Slime Moulds – Be Thankful for Marine Algae – How Bacteria Nearly Destroyed All Life by curiouscat […]
February 2nd, 2010 @ 10:00 am
[…] Thinking Slime Molds – Single-Celled Giant Provides New Early-Evolution Perspective – Rat Brain Cells, in a […]