Differentiation in the Cellular Slime Mold

Barbara E. Wright
Additional contact information
Barbara E. Wright: The John Collins Warren Laboratories of the Huntington Memorial Hospital of Harvard University at the Massachusetts General Hospital

A chapter in Systems Theory and Biology, 1968, pp 115-129 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract I have been asked to speak about the cellular slime mold as a model system for analyzing the biochemical basis of differentiation. It is a model system by two reasonable and useful definitions. If one usually thinks of differentiation or morphogenesis as something properly experienced only by organisms at least as complicated as a sea urchin, then the lowly slime mold is only a model, which exhibits behavior closely resembling differentiation. In this context, I shall describe many characteristics of the slime mold which are amazingly similar to, and undoubtedly the ancestor of, differentiation in higher organisms. Of course, if one is a firm believer in evolution and comparative biochemistry, he may consider slime mold behavior quite respectable enough to include in his definition of differentiation. In that event, when we study the slime mold we are not looking hopefully at a model system: we are looking at the real thing!

Keywords: Slime Mold; Stalk Cell; Cellular Slime Mold; Firm Believer; Endogenous Reserve (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1968
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

There are no downloads for this item, see the EconPapers FAQ for hints about obtaining it.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-642-88343-9_5

Ordering information: This item can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/9783642883439

DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-88343-9_5

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Springer Books from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().