Effects of sugars or polyvalent cations in media on 1: 1 salts reception in slime mold
Physarum poly-cephalum were investigated in terms of the threshold concentration,
Cth, of salt reception. Membrane potential and motive force of tactic movement were measured by the aid of double chamber method, where salt concentration in one compartment was increased successively with a fixed concentration of a sugar or polyvalent cation species in media. Results were:
1) The presence of glucose, mannose, maltose or sucrose in media increased C
th for 1: 1 salts (Cl-and NO
3-salts of Li, Na, and K), whereas ribose decreased
Cth of salt reception. Galactose showed no appreciable effect on
Cth for every salts examined.
2) Variation of
Cth for salts in the presence of sugars were correlated with those caused by the difference in the lyotropic number of anions.
Cth for Li-salts changed most both by sugars and by anions, while those for NH
4-salts were not changed.
3) The presence of polyvalent cations (Ca
2+, Sr
2+, Mg
2+, La
3+, Th
4+) in media led to an increase in
Cth for Na-and Li-salts, whereas a decrease in
Cth for K-, Rb-, and NH
4-salts resulted.
Cth for 1: 1 salts changed discontinuously when the concentration of polyvalent cation exceeded their respective thresholds.
4) Sequence of selectivity of univalent cations varied extensively by simultaneous receptions of 1: 1 salts with sugars or with polyvalent cations. The important roles of structural changes of membrane and the surrounding water in chemoreception were then discussed.
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