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From morphological to molecular: studies of myxomycetes since the publication of the Martin and Alexopoulos (1969) monograph

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Abstract

Myxomycetes (plasmodial slime molds or myxogastrids) are a group of eukaryotic microorganisms usually present and sometimes abundant in terrestrial ecosystems. Because they produce aerial spore-bearing structures that resemble those of certain fungi and also typically occur in some of the same types of ecological situations as fungi, myxomycetes have been traditionally studied by mycologists, and this continued to be the case for the greater part of the twentieth century. However, there is now abundant molecular data to confirm that they are amoebozoans and not fungi. Efforts are currently underway to develop the first molecular phylogeny for myxomycetes, and several recent studies have used molecular techniques to detect the presence of these organisms in nature by means of direct environmental sampling.

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Acknowledgments

Much of the information provided in this paper is the product of studies that the author and a number of his colleagues have carried out over the past 35 years. These studies were supported by grants from several different sources, including the National Science Foundation and the National Geographic Society. Appreciation is extended to Randy Darrah, who prepared two of the figures used in this paper, and Katherine Winsett, who compiled the molecular data presented herein. Some of the images used in Figs. 3 and 4 were contributed by Randy Darrah, Kimberly Fleming, Emily Johnson, William Roody, and Clive Shirley.

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  1. Department of Biological Sciences, 1 University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR, 72701, USA

    Steven L. Stephenson

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Stephenson, S.L. From morphological to molecular: studies of myxomycetes since the publication of the Martin and Alexopoulos (1969) monograph. Fungal Diversity 50, 21–34 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13225-011-0113-1

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