Studies on Tiny Fruiting Bodies of the Cellular Slime Mold, Dictyostelium discoideum

Abstract

Specific characters of small fruiting bodies of the cellular slime mold have been investigated. Cell number increase was most frequently observed during morphogenesis, when number of initial cells exceeds 300. Cell division during morphogenesis was not necessarily requisite for cell differentiation, since cells formed fruiting bodies, even if there was no increase in cell numbers.
Ratio of stalk cells to total cells was 14-23% when the total cell number was around 100. The ratio decreased down to 3-7% with cell number increase of a fruiting body.