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Current Biology : CB Apr 2021Interview with Audrey Dussutour, who uses slime molds and ant colonies to study collective behavior and cognition at the Center for Integrative Biology in Toulouse.
Interview with Audrey Dussutour, who uses slime molds and ant colonies to study collective behavior and cognition at the Center for Integrative Biology in Toulouse.
Topics: Animals; Cognition; Communication; History, 21st Century; Learning; Mentors; Myxomycetes; Research Support as Topic; Sexism; Writing
PubMed: 33905686
DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.03.033 -
Microorganisms Sep 2023Evidence from molecular studies indicates that myxomycetes (also called myxogastrids or plasmodial slime molds) have a long evolutionary history, and the oldest known... (Review)
Review
Evidence from molecular studies indicates that myxomycetes (also called myxogastrids or plasmodial slime molds) have a long evolutionary history, and the oldest known fossil is from the mid-Cretaceous. However, they were not "discovered" until 1654, when a brief description and a woodcut depicting what is almost certainly the common species was published. First thought to be fungi, myxomycetes were not universally recognized as completely distinct until well into the twentieth century. Biodiversity surveys for the group being carried out over several years are relatively recent, with what is apparently the first example being carried out in the 1930s. Beginning in the 1980s, a series of such surveys yielded large bodies of data on the occurrence and distribution of myxomycetes in terrestrial ecosystems. The most notable of these were the All Taxa Biodiversity Inventory (ATBI) project carried out in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, the Planetary Biodiversity Inventory Project (PBI) carried out in localities throughout the world, and the Myxotropic project being carried out throughout the Neotropics. The datasets available from both past and ongoing surveys now allow global and biogeographical patterns of myxomycetes to be assessed for the first time.
PubMed: 37764126
DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms11092283 -
Marine Drugs Sep 2022The marine environment is important yet generally underexplored. It contains new sources of functional constituents that can affect various pathways in food processing,... (Review)
Review
The marine environment is important yet generally underexplored. It contains new sources of functional constituents that can affect various pathways in food processing, storage, and fortification. Bioactive secondary metabolites produced by marine microorganisms may have significant potential applications for humans. Various components isolated from disparate marine microorganisms, including fungi, microalgae, bacteria, and myxomycetes, showed considerable biological effects, such as anticancer, antioxidant, antiviral, antibacterial, and neuroprotective activities. Growing studies are revealing that potential anticancer effects of marine agents could be achieved through the modulation of several organelles. Mitochondria are known organelles that influence growth, differentiation, and death of cells via influencing the biosynthetic, bioenergetic, and various signaling pathways related to oxidative stress and cellular metabolism. Consequently, mitochondria play an essential role in tumorigenesis and cancer treatments by adapting to alterations in environmental and cellular conditions. The growing interest in marine-derived anticancer agents, combined with the development and progression of novel technology in the extraction and cultures of marine life, led to revelations of new compounds with meaningful pharmacological applications. This is the first critical review on marine-derived anticancer agents that have the potential for targeting mitochondrial function during tumorigenesis. This study aims to provide promising strategies in cancer prevention and treatment.
Topics: Humans; Antioxidants; Mitochondria; Antineoplastic Agents; Anti-Bacterial Agents; Antiviral Agents; Neoplasms; Carcinogenesis; Biological Products; Aquatic Organisms
PubMed: 36286449
DOI: 10.3390/md20100625 -
Journal of the Royal Society, Interface Apr 2022is a unicellular slime mould that has been intensely studied owing to its ability to solve mazes, find shortest paths, generate Steiner trees, share knowledge and...
is a unicellular slime mould that has been intensely studied owing to its ability to solve mazes, find shortest paths, generate Steiner trees, share knowledge and remember past events and the implied applications to unconventional computing. The CELL model is a cellular automaton introduced in Gunji . (Gunji 2008 , 659-667 (doi:10.1016/j.jtbi.2008.04.017)) that models 's amoeboid motion, tentacle formation, maze solving and network creation. In the present paper, we extend the CELL model by spawning multiple CELLs, allowing us to understand the interactions between multiple cells and, in particular, their mobility, merge speed and cytoplasm mixing. We conclude the paper with some notes about applications of our work to modelling the rise of present-day civilization from the early nomadic humans and the spread of trends and information around the world. Our study of the interactions of this unicellular organism should further the understanding of how communicates and shares information.
Topics: Cell Fusion; Humans; Physarum polycephalum
PubMed: 35472268
DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2022.0054 -
Mycology 2023Species in the class Myxomycetes (or Myxogastrea) are essential components of biodiversity and play important ecological roles in terrestrial ecosystems, especially in... (Review)
Review
Species in the class Myxomycetes (or Myxogastrea) are essential components of biodiversity and play important ecological roles in terrestrial ecosystems, especially in forests. Studies on the taxonomy and diversity of these organisms started late in China. However, significant progress in China has been made in modern taxonomic studies on myxomycetes based on long-term species surveying and specimen collecting. The existing achievements have shown that comprehensive and continuous studies on the taxonomy and diversity of myxomycetes in China have the potential to enhance global biodiversity and improve the geographic distribution pattern of myxomycetes. Therefore, building on the current research foundation and expanding myxomycete research in a wider and more in-depth approach is imperative.
PubMed: 38187883
DOI: 10.1080/21501203.2023.2255031 -
Genes Mar 2023The mtDNA of the myxomycete can contain as many as 81 genes. These genes can be grouped in three different categories. The first category includes 46 genes that are... (Review)
Review
The mtDNA of the myxomycete can contain as many as 81 genes. These genes can be grouped in three different categories. The first category includes 46 genes that are classically found on the mtDNA of many organisms. However, 43 of these genes are cryptogenes that require a unique type of RNA editing (MICOTREM). A second category of gene is putative protein-coding genes represented by 26 significant open reading frames. However, these genes do not appear to be transcribed during the growth of the plasmodium and are currently unassigned since they do not have any apparent similarity to other classical mitochondrial protein-coding genes. The third category of gene is found in the mtDNA of some strains of . These genes derive from a linear mitochondrial plasmid with nine significant, but unassigned, open reading frames which can integrate into the mitochondrial DNA by recombination. Here, we review the mechanism and evolution of the RNA editing necessary for cryptogene expression, discuss possible origins for the 26 unassigned open reading frames based on tentative identification of their protein product, and discuss the implications to mtDNA structure and replication of the integration of the linear mitochondrial plasmid.
Topics: Physarum polycephalum; DNA, Mitochondrial; Base Sequence; Mitochondria; Genetic Variation
PubMed: 36980901
DOI: 10.3390/genes14030628 -
BMC Microbiology Dec 2022Myxomycetes are a group of eukaryotes belonging to Amoebozoa, which are characterized by a distinctive life cycle, including the plasmodium stage and fruit body stage....
BACKGROUND
Myxomycetes are a group of eukaryotes belonging to Amoebozoa, which are characterized by a distinctive life cycle, including the plasmodium stage and fruit body stage. Plasmodia are all found to be associated with bacteria. However, the information about bacteria diversity and composition in different plasmodia was limited. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the bacterial diversity of plasmodia from different myxomycetes species and reveal the potential function of plasmodia-associated bacterial communities.
RESULTS
The bacterial communities associated with the plasmodia of six myxomycetes (Didymium iridis, Didymium squamulosum, Diderma hemisphaericum, Lepidoderma tigrinum, Fuligo leviderma, and Physarum melleum) were identified by 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. The six plasmodia harbored 38 to 52 bacterial operational taxonomic units (OTUs) that belonged to 7 phyla, 16 classes, 23 orders, 40 families, and 53 genera. The dominant phyla were Bacteroidetes, Firmicutes, and Proteobacteria. Most OTUs were shared among the six myxomycetes, while unique bacteria in each species only accounted for a tiny proportion of the total OTUs.
CONCLUSIONS
Although each of the six myxomycetes plasmodia had different bacterial community compositions, a high similarity was observed in the plasmodia-associated bacterial communities' functional composition. The high enrichment for gram-negative (> 90%) and aerobic (> 99%) bacteria in plasmodia suggest that myxomycetes may positively recruit certain kinds of bacteria from the surrounding environment.
Topics: Humans; Myxomycetes; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S; Physarum; Bacteria; Plasmodium
PubMed: 36544088
DOI: 10.1186/s12866-022-02725-5 -
Animal Cognition Nov 2023Sensing, communication, navigation, decision-making, memory and learning are key components in a standard cognitive tool-kit that enhance an animal's ability to... (Review)
Review
Sensing, communication, navigation, decision-making, memory and learning are key components in a standard cognitive tool-kit that enhance an animal's ability to successfully survive and reproduce. However, these tools are not only useful for, or accessible to, animals-they evolved long ago in simpler organisms using mechanisms which may be either unique or widely conserved across diverse taxa. In this article, I review the recent research that demonstrates these key cognitive abilities in the plasmodial slime mould Physarum polycephalum, which has emerged as a model for non-animal cognition. I discuss the benefits and limitations of comparisons drawn between neural and non-neural systems, and the implications of common mechanisms across wide taxonomic divisions. I conclude by discussing future avenues of research that will draw the most benefit from a closer integration of Physarum and animal cognition research.
Topics: Animals; Physarum polycephalum; Cognition; Learning
PubMed: 37166523
DOI: 10.1007/s10071-023-01782-1 -
Methods in Molecular Biology (Clifton,... 2022Physarum polycephalum is a protist slime mould that exhibits a high degree of responsiveness to its environment through a complex network of tubes and cytoskeletal...
Physarum polycephalum is a protist slime mould that exhibits a high degree of responsiveness to its environment through a complex network of tubes and cytoskeletal components that coordinate behavior across its unicellular, multinucleated body. Physarum has been used to study decision making, problem solving, and mechanosensation in aneural biological systems. The robust generative and repair capacities of Physarum also enable the study of whole-body regeneration within a relatively simple model system. Here we describe methods for growing, imaging, quantifying, and sampling Physarum that are adapted for investigating regeneration and repair.
Topics: Adaptation, Physiological; Models, Biological; Physarum polycephalum
PubMed: 35359302
DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-2172-1_3 -
Mycoscience 2022The bark of live trees provides an important microhabitat for corticolous myxomycetes. However, the association between the presence of myxomycetes and health of host...
The bark of live trees provides an important microhabitat for corticolous myxomycetes. However, the association between the presence of myxomycetes and health of host trees has not been studied in detail. In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between tree vitality and myxomycetes on the bark of trees in a montane forest in western Japan. The vitality of trees was categorized into four grades based on the visual assessment of tree shape and leaf density in the upper branches. Myxomycetes on the bark surface were examined using the moist chamber culture method. A decline in tree vitality increased bark pH and decreased electrical conductivity of the bark exudates. Seventeen myxomycete species were recorded in 74 trees. The structure of myxomycete communities varied between healthy and unhealthy trees, and species diversity increased as the vitality declined. The relative abundance of decreased as the vitality declined, while that of increased. The results showed that acidophilic myxomycetes grew on healthy bark, but changes in bark pH associated with vitality decline led to the weakening of acidity and shifted the community structure; thus, corticolous myxomycete diversity was enhanced as tree vitality decline.
PubMed: 37092009
DOI: 10.47371/mycosci.2022.01.001