NUTRITION OF CELLULAR SLIME MOLDS III

Abstract

Hohl, Hans-Rudolf (University of Wisconsin, Madison), and Kenneth B. Raper . Nutrition of cellular slime molds. III. Specific growth requirements of Polysphondylium pallidum . J. Bacteriol. 86: 1314–1320. 1963.—Soluble media for the axenic growth of certain strains of Polysphondylium pallidum are described. One of the media, referred to as the complex medium, was composed of 2% tryptose and 4% serum albumin in an inorganic salt solution. Cell densities of up to 10 7 myxamoebae per ml were obtained. Supplementing this medium with amino acids, vitamins, nucleic acid bases, and glucose resulted in growth of strain Pan-17 up to 3 × 10 7 cells per ml with a generation time during the log phase of about 4.5 hr. A defined medium was subsequently developed that allowed growth of strain Fr-47 up to 2 × 10 6 to 5.5 × 10 6 myxamoebae per ml in the presence of 1% serum albumin. The base medium contained the following essential nutrients: six amino acids (glycine, methionine, lysine, isoleucine, tryptophan, and tyrosine), riboflavine, purines and pyrimidines, and a carbohydrate (dextrose) dissolved in an inorganic salt solution containing trace elements.