BIOLOGY- On slime moulds... ?

Question

can someone explain the CLASSIFICATION of slime moulds ?

and also ans. these Qs-

1. can slime mould be called a fungi ?

2. is it a protist ?

3. what is the kingdom protoctist and how is it different or similar to protista and fungi ?

thnx :)..STAR the Q for no other reason but to spread it and increase the chances of my getting the correct ans.

Answer 1

Slime molds are not fungi, they are protists and part of the amoebozoan group.  Both cellular and plasmodial slime molds move with pseudopods.  The reason some people have considered them fungi-like is because during reproduction they develop stalked sporangia that look similar to those found in some fungal molds.  However, unlike fungi, they do no have specialized tissues and, more importantly, they do not have chitin in cell walls.

Protoctista is an old term for Protista.  Very few scientists still use that term.  They represent the Kingdom of organisms that are eukaryotic, unicellular or multicellular but lacking true tissues.  It's actually a very weak grouping of organisms and many are moving to dividing the group into Protozoans and Chromistans.  The Kingdom Fungi includes eukaryotic, multicelluar with true tissue organisms that are heterotrophic and have chitin their cell walls.

Answer 2

Slime molds belong to a class of fungi, the Myxomycetes, that is characterized by the production of relatively large, single-celled, multinucleate bodies called plasmodia (singular = plasmodium). Plasmodia are the feeding stages of slime molds, and they are frequently seen on lawns, small plants, mulch, and decaying wood in late summer. Slime molds are not plant parasites, but they may injure plants by covering and shading them.



Slime molds are like other fungi in that they reproduce by spores. When the spores are moistened, they germinate and give rise to microscopic amoeba-like organisms that either "flow" or swim in thin films of water. These organisms are larger than bacterial cells and will engulf and digest bacteria as they are encountered.

Until recently, the slime moulds were regarded as organisms of uncertain taxonomic status, claimed as fungi by mycologists and as protozoa by protozoologists. To make things worse, several groups of organisms have been included in the general term 'slime mould'. They include the cellular slime moulds which are unicellular amoeboid organisms such as Dictyostelium; the endoparasitic slime moulds such as the damaging plant pathogen Plasmodiophora brassicae (clubroot disease of cruciferous crops), and the plasmodial slime moulds such as Physarum species.

Analysis of DNA sequences has now shown clearly that all these groups are evolutionarily distinct from one another, and also distinct from the fungi. So they can be regarded as separate kingdoms of organisms or separate lineages within the protozoan group.

Kingdom Protista Characteristics

Members of this kingdom are often microscopic (unicellular)

Some protists can make their own food others cannot

Some protists display much movement others little.



Protista Classification

Most are microscopic, one-celled organisms.

Some form colonies of many cells

May have qualities of both animals and plants

Some make their own food through photosynthesis

Many have movement

Protozoans - "Animal-like" protista

Fungus Like Protists

All Those members of the protista kingdom which act like fungus

Small group

Often brightly colored

Slime Molds

Myxomycota

Multicellular

Change form during life cycle

Tend to live in damp locations

Slime Molds

The three stages are similar to that of other organisms.



Addition to the answer: slime moulds and slime molds.

Slime moulds like Physarum polycephalum are useful for studying cytoplasmic streaming. It has been observed that they can find their way through mazes by spreading out and choosing the shortest path, an interesting example of information processing without a nervous system. In 2006, researchers at the University of Southampton and the University of Kobe reported that they had built a six-legged robot whose movement was remotely controlled by a Physarum slime mould. The mould directed the robot into a dark corner most similar to its natural habitat.



Slime molds are sometimes studied in advanced mathematics courses. Slime mold aggregation is a natural process that can be approximated with partial differential equations.

hsj

Answer 3

im sleeping in the class

i dont know the answer