NextPrevious

Biology

Viruses, Bacteria, Protists, and Fungi

What slime mold serves as a model organism in developmental biology?

Dictyostelium discoideum has been studied as a model for the developmental biology of complex organisms. Under optimum conditions, this organism lives as individual, amoeboid cells. When food is scarce, the cells stream together into a moving mass, resembling a slug that differentiates into a stalk with a spore-bearing body at its top. This structure releases spores that can grow into a new amoeboid cell. The development from identical, free-living cells to a multicellular organism simulates many of the properties of more complex and complicated organisms.



Close

This is a web preview of the "The Handy Science Answer Book" app. Many features only work on your mobile device. If you like what you see, we hope you will consider buying. Get the App