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Nuclear DNA Content and Senescence in Physarum polycephalum

Abstract

CULTURES of the true slime mould Physarum polycephalum exhibit quite distinct, macroscopic symptoms of ageing after repeated serial subculture of the Plasmodium on nutrient agar plates. Growth slows down, cultures become necrotic, death ensuing a few weeks after the onset of the first visible signs of a slowing in growth rate. Poulter1 has described the symptoms in detail and has also shown that the process is true senescence. If numerous subcultures of a single Plasmodium are maintained in parallel, death occurs at approximately the same time in all the lines. Poulter has also demonstrated that the important factor in determining the lifetime of a plasmodial line is the genotype of the strain, individual strains having characteristic life spans ranging from a few weeks to several months and perhaps years. Moreover, the death point of the lines proved remarkably immune to the influence of environmental factors such as temperature stress, ultraviolet irradiation, starvation or physical damage. This is the opposite case from the vegetative senescence displayed by certain fungi2.

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MCCULLOUGH, C., COOKE, D., FOXON, J. et al. Nuclear DNA Content and Senescence in Physarum polycephalum. Nature New Biology 245, 263–265 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1038/newbio245263a0

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