The posterior reticulated regions of the plasmodia of the slime mold, Physarum polycephalum, whose migration has been oriented by direct current (3.0 to 5.0 µa/mm2 in the agar substrate), contain 30 per cent less potassium than the advancing non-reticulated region. The anterior regions have the same potassium concentration as that of the controls, approximately 32 meq/kg wet weight. Differences in potassium concentration between anterior and posterior regions of control plasmodia, not oriented by electric current, are less than 5 per cent. Sodium, in contrast to potassium, is generally less concentrated in the anterior than in the posterior regions of electrically oriented plasmodia, but sodium concentrations are extremely variable. No significant difference in protein concentration was found between oriented and control plasmodia. Thirty-five per cent of the total potassium, but none of the sodium, is found in acidified ethanol precipitates from plasmodial homogenates. Potassium, but not sodium, appears to be closely associated with processes which differentiate anterior from posterior in an oriented plasmodium.
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1 January 1962
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January 01 1962
Potassium Loss during Galvanotaxis of Slime Mold
John D. Anderson
John D. Anderson
From the Department of Physiology, University of Illinois, Urbana
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John D. Anderson
From the Department of Physiology, University of Illinois, Urbana
Received:
July 24 1961
Online ISSN: 1540-7748
Print ISSN: 0022-1295
Copyright, 1962, by The Rockefeller Institute Press
1962
J Gen Physiol (1962) 45 (3): 567–574.
Article history
Received:
July 24 1961
Citation
John D. Anderson; Potassium Loss during Galvanotaxis of Slime Mold . J Gen Physiol 1 January 1962; 45 (3): 567–574. doi: https://doi.org/10.1085/jgp.45.3.567
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GALVANOTAXIS OF SLIME MOLD
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