An organism called a plasmodial slime mold is one large cytoplasm...

Question

An organism called a plasmodial slime mold is one large cytoplasmic mass with many nuclei. Explain how such a 'megacell' could form.

Accepted Answer

Hi everyone. Here's our next question. It says cellular slime molds are single celled amoeba. Boyd protease. What unique feature makes it an ideal subject for studying multicellular organism generation. So we're talking here about a branch of slime mold called cellular slime molds. And we're trying to think about what feature of these cellular slime molds would help us to understand the evolution or development of multicellular organisms. And as our question tells us, cellular slime molds are single celled amoeba. Boyd protests. So how could that help us understand the evolution of multicellular organisms? Let's recall more content videos that when these cellular slime molds are under stressful conditions so that like there's no food available, they will release a chemical signal that causes them to aggregate into a swarm. So like a single entity that organizes itself to form spores. So you go from these single celled protease to this swarm that organizes itself to form spores. So those single cells acting together in a similar way as the different cells in a multicellular organism work together for the good of the organism. So with that in mind, let's look at our answer choices here choice A says, the individual cells can combine together to form one gigantic cell. Well, this isn't what we're talking about here with the cellular slime molds. This is characteristic of the branch called a cellular slime molds and when they aggregate together they remain a single salads, An enormous silicon of multiple nuclei. But it's just one cell. So that's not going to be our answer here because we're looking at what would help us to understand multicellular organisms. So this is a different branch of slime molds that remain one cell. Choice B says the individual cells dissipate upon contact with water. Again, we're talking about how multicellular organisms evolved with cells grouping together. So cells dissipating is not our answer here. Choice C says the cell can survive extremely low. Ph well, that doesn't really have anything to do with the evolution of multicellular organisms. So that's not our answer. So now we're onto Choice D The cell can aggregate into a great swarm when a chemical signal is detected and that is the characteristic we're looking for that these single celled protease with this chemical signal, in this case it's C A. M. P. They aggregate into a multicellular swarm that acts together so that can help give us insight into the evolution of multicellular organisms. See you in the next video

An organism called a plasmodial slime mold is one large cytoplasmic mass with many nuclei. Explain how such a 'megacell' could form.

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