Movies of cellular slime moulds (2)

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Movies of cellular slime moulds (2)

Links to movies in QuickTime (mac, unix) and avi (wondows) formats (approx. size in kilobytes in parentheses)
and to serial photographs (roughly 1/20 the file size of movies).
Shown in parentheses at the end of each explanation are intervals between frames, duration, and field width (or scale bar).

Growth phase to aggregation and slug migration


	QuickTime avi (630) photos	Spores of Dictyostelium discoideum were inoculated in the centre of the plate on which bacteria had been evenly spread. The spores germinate to give rise to amoeboid cells, which feed on the bacteria and multiply. They gradually spread outwards where food is plenty, while in the inner region where bacteria have been consumed, the slime mould cells start to aggregate, and eventually form fruiting bodies. Movie starts at 3 days after inoculation. (1 h, 70 h, 8 cm) (c04)

Germination and feeding


	QuickTime avi (700)	Slime mould cells extend small protrusions to capture bacteria, but this could result in simply pushing the bacteria away if there are not many bacteria around. Feeding seems much more efficent if bacteria are trapped in a space between slime mould cells. Shown are Dictyostelium mucoroides cells. (5 sec, 6 min 30 sec, 46 micrometres) (v08)
	QuickTime avi (1000)	Slime mould cells are able to engulf rather big objects, but the long bacterium shown in this movie was a bit too big for them to eat. Dictyostelium mucoroides. (10 sec, 29 min 10 sec, 30 micrometres) (v09)
The following 3 movies are of Acrasis rosea, which is quite different from other slime moulds. (-->more)
	QuickTime avi (890) photos	Germination of Acrasis rosea cells from spores. (10 sec, 23 min 20 sec, 0.12 mm, scale bar: 10 micrometres) (v06-1)
	QuickTime avi (1400)	Germination of Acrasis rosea. More basal part of the same fruiting body as the one shown above. Six spores can be seen to germinate in the movie. Amoeboid cells of this species often get into empty spore cases as if they are looking for something. (10 sec, 18 min 40 sec, 0.14 mm) (v06-2)
	QuickTime avi (550) photos	An Acrasis rosea cell feeding on budding yeast, which is their favourite food. (4 sec, 6 min 9 sec, 0.08 mm) (v07)

Cell aggregation and propagating waves


	QuickTime avi (560)	Propagating waves have been extracted by subtracting the image 1 min before each image. A spiral wave is clearly seen in the bottom of the field towards the right. Dictyostelium discoideum. (30 sec, 40 min, 3.4 mm) (a04)
	QuickTime avi (700)	Aggregating cells sometimes form a ring of rotating cells. Rings of cells may arise from spiral aggregation, or from rotating mounds. A ring eventually collapses into a rotating mound, or ... (next movie) (30 sec, 40 min, 3.4 mm) (a05)
	QuickTime avi (700)	... if the ring is large, the cells accumulate somewhere of the ring, where they form a mound and a slug. In these movies, the right-hand side is differential pictures to show the waves of chemotactic signals. (30 sec, 40 min, 3.4 mm) (a06)
	QuickTime avi (610) photos	Aggregation of the small dictyostelid slime mould D. lacteum is somewhat different from that of larger species. Starved cells first aggregate without forming any streams, but when slugs start to be formed in the centre of aggregation, streams develop from the centre. (10 min, 13 h 20 min, 1.22 mm) (a07)
	QuickTime avi (710) photos	Starved cells of D. polycephalum often aggregate as a sheet of cells rather than forming compact streams. Later, streams may appear at the periphery of the aggregate. (4 min, 4 h, 1.5 mm) (a08)

Slug migration


	QuickTime avi (400)	Dictyostelium discoideum. Slender slugs like this one often move their head up and down during migration. Length/width of this slug: ca. 0.8/0.1 mm. Approx speed 0.8 mm/h. (1 min, 1 h 16 min, 1.9 mm) (s02)
	QuickTime avi (370) photos	Dictyostelium polycephalum makes very thin and long migrating slugs. Like D. discoideum, they do not make a stalk during migration. Branching in the aerial part of a slug as seen in the movie is uncommon. Camera angle was changed at frame 39. Length/width of the slugs: ca. 3.8/0.14 mm and 2.5/0.07 mm. Approx speed 1.2 and 0.8 mm/h. (8 min, 7 h, 3.9 mm) (s11)
	QuickTime avi (830) photos	Slugs of Dictyostelium polycephalum at low magnification. Formation of 2 groups of slugs can be seen (slightly out of focus) near the bottom. In the centre, a small slug can be seen to disintegrate. In this species, disintegration of a slug back to preaggregation state is not rare. (20 min, 38 h 40 min, 8.4 mm) (s13)
	QuickTime avi (280)	A migrating slug of Polysphondylium violaceum viewed from side. Length/width of this slug: ca. 1.1/0.16 mm. Approx speed 1.1 mm/h. (2 min, 1 h 28 min, 1.6 mm) (s01)
	QuickTime avi (280) photos	Migrating slugs of many slime mould species move towards blue-green light (phototaxis). This movie shows migrating slugs of Dictyostelium giganteum changing their directions of movement in response to changes in the light source position. The direction of the light source is indicated by white rectangles. Central wavelength of stimulation light: 450 nm, light for filming: >750 nm. (4 min, 5 h 36 min, 7.2 mm) (s12)
	QuickTime avi (1200) photos	Migrating slug of Dictyostelium rosarium viewed from side. Slugs of this species leaves cell clumps at regular intervals on the stalk during migration. These cells soon become spores. (2 min, 6 h, 3.7 mm) (s20)

Fruiting body formation


	QuickTime avi (620) photos	Fruiting body formation of Dictyostelium purpureum. This species makes purple spores. This fruiting body is slanted towards a light source in the left because of phototaxis. (8 min, 12 h, 1.4 mm) (s05)
	QuickTime avi (240) photos	Mature spores of D. purpureum are purple. On a white background, the process of spore coloration can be seen. (2 min, 4 h, 1.2 mm) (s06)
	QuickTime avi (1000) photos	Aggregation and fruiting body formation of D. minutum. In this species, aggregated cells often move about en masse before forming fruiting bodies. (12 min, 13 h, 3.2 mm) (s18)
	QuickTime avi (2200) photos	Aggregation and fruiting body formation of D. aureo-stipes. Some of the fruiting bodies show irregular branching. (8 min, 13 h, 3.4 mm) (s14)
	QuickTime avi (960) photos	Branching in D. aureo-stipes fruiting bodies. Formation of irregularly spaced branches is common in this species. The examples shown here show particularly extensive branching. (10 min, 14 h, 1.4 mm) (s15)
	QuickTime avi (620) photos	Like the whorls of Polysphondylium, the fruiting body of D. polycephalum is composed of small fruiting bodies of equal size. However, because there is no main trunk of the fruiting body, the small fruiting bodies do not grow radially but vertically while remainig bunched together. (8 min, 9 h 20 min, 0.26 mm) (s16)
	QuickTime avi (410)	New Acytostelium produces tiny fruiting bodies. Unlike the majority of the cellular slime mould, its stalk does not contain cells but is made up solely with secreted materials. (1 min, 2 h, 0.5 mm) (s22)
	QuickTime avi (530) photos	Fruitig bodies of Acrasis rosea. Their shape and construction are very different from dictyostelid slime moulds such as Dictyostelium and Polysphondylium. (-->more) (1 min, 1 h 3 min, 1.1 mm) (s07)

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