Polysphondylium pallidum

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Classification

Domain; Phylum; Class; Order; family [Others may be used. Use NCBI link to find]

Species

NCBI: Taxonomy

Genus species

Description and Significance

Polysphondylium pallidum was first described by Edgar W. Olive in 1901 as growing on the dung of a donkey, muskrat, and rabbit in Liberia (2,4).

Polysphondylium pallidum is a cellular slime mold of the phylum Mycetozoa. It begins its life as a single-celled amoeboid protist and lives in feces, soil, and other organic matter (1). Like other cellular slime molds, P. pallidum can reproduce both sexually and asexually depending on its environmental conditions (1) and has two distinct stages of its life cycle: a vegetative non-social stage and an aggregate phase which is cued by starvation (5).

Biologists have been particularly interested in cellular slime molds because their asexual cycles model cell differentiation in eukaryotes (2,3). With their simple and easy-to-manipulate systems, cellular slime molds provide insight into the formation of multicellular organisms (2). P. pallidum in particular has been used a variety of experiments because of its high levels of germination compared to other sexually reproducing slime molds, making it useful for studies of transmission patterns (3).

Genome Structure

Describe the size and content of the genome. How many chromosomes? Circular or linear? Other interesting features? What is known about its sequence?

Cell Structure, Metabolism and Life Cycle

Interesting features of cell structure; how it gains energy; what important molecules it produces.

Ecology and Pathogenesis

Habitat; symbiosis; biogeochemical significance; contributions to environment.
If relevant, how does this organism cause disease? Human, animal, plant hosts? Virulence factors, as well as patient symptoms.

References

[Sample reference] Takai, K., Sugai, A., Itoh, T., and Horikoshi, K. "Palaeococcus ferrophilus gen. nov., sp. nov., a barophilic, hyperthermophilic archaeon from a deep-sea hydrothermal vent chimney". International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology. 2000. Volume 50. p. 489-500.

1. Encyclopedia of Life: Polysphondylium pallidum
2. University of Califronia: Introduction to Slime Molds
3. Mirfakhrai, M., Tanaka, Y., & Yanagisawa, K. (1990). Evidence for mitochondrial DNA polymorphism and uniparental inheritance in the cellular slime mold Polysphondylium pallidum: effect of intraspecies mating on mitochondrial DNA transmission. Genetics, 124(3), 607-613.
4. Olive, Edgar W. (1901). "A preliminary enumeration of the Sorophoreae". Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 37 (12): 333–344. doi:10.2307/20021671.
5. Rosen, S. D., Simpson, D. L., Rose, J. E., & Barondes, S. H. (1974). Carbohydrate-binding protein from Polysphondylium pallidum implicated in intercellular adhesion. Nature, 252(5479), 128-151.

Author

Page authored by Benjamin Braude and Alexandra Canzoneri, students of Prof. Jay Lennon at Indiana University.