THE EFFECT OF SALTS AND ORGANIC SOLUTES ON THE MIGRATION TIME OF THE SLIME MOLD DICTYOSTELIUM DISCOIDEUM

¹ University of illinois, Urbana, Illinois, and Dept. of Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey

1. In the life history of Dictyostelium discoideum there is a period of migration in which the aggregated cell mass wanders about in the form of a sausage prior to the formation of a final fruiting body.

2. The period of migration was known to be variable, and now a limiting factor has been demonstrated. It was possible to show that in the absence of solutes migration will occur for long periods of time, and that the duration of migration decreased approximately exponentially with the concentration of added solute. The effect cannot be accounted for entirely as an osmotic phenomenon because different substances have different degrees of effectiveness, electrolytes being more effective than non-electrolytes.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				C. K. Singleton, J. H. Kirsten, and C. J. Dinsmore Function of Ammonium Transporter A in the Initiation of Culmination of Development in Dictyostelium discoideum Eukaryot. Cell, July 1, 2006; 5(7): 991 - 996. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]