What is meant by Plasmodium? How is it connected with Slime Moulds?
Bikas: During their non-reproductive stages, the myxomycetes or ‘plasmodial’ slime moulds, are thin streaming masses of protoplasm which creep along in amoeboid fashion. This naked mass of protoplasm is called a plasmodium. As you know malarial parasite PLasmodium (Protozoan) frequently undergoes schizogony and apppears multinucleated. As slime mould looks like that it has been named so. Following is the life cycle of slime mould.: As one of these plasmodia travels, it engulfs bacteria, yeast, fungal spores and small particles of decayed plant and animal matter, which it digests. It may weigh as much as 20 or 30 grams and spread thinly, covering an area of a meter or more in diameter. The plasmodium contains many nuclei but is not divided by cell walls. As the plasmodium grows, the nuclei divide repeatedly and synchronously that is, all the nuclei in a plasmodium divide at the same time. The moving plasmodium is typically fan-shaped, with flowing protoplasmic tubules that are thicker a
