How the Slime Mold Gets Organized
Cells at the tip of the slime mold’s fruiting body organize into an epithelial layer and secrete proteins as do some animals cells
The so-called cellular slime mold, a unicellular organism that may transition into a multicellular organism under stress, has just been found to have a tissue structure that was previously thought to exist only in more sophisticated animals. What’s more, two proteins that are needed by the slime mold to form this structure are similar to those that perform the same function in more sophistical animals. (more…)