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Possible role for acetylcholine in aggregation centre spacing in Polysphondylium violaceum

Abstract

WHILE ridding my laboratory of an invasion of flies, I tested the toxicity of an organophosphate insecticide, 2,2-dichlorovinyldimethylphosphate (DDVP), against the growth and development of Polysphondylium violaceum strain PvD 7206. Plate cultures of the slime mould exposed to the vapours of a pest strip containing the insecticide seemed to grow and develop normally in most respects, but showed a startling increase in the number of aggregation centres and sorocarps formed. I report here the results of preliminary investigations on the basis for this phenomenon.

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CLARK, M. Possible role for acetylcholine in aggregation centre spacing in Polysphondylium violaceum. Nature 266, 170–172 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1038/266170a0

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