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SOME amoebae do exactly what we do before we travel — pack a lunch. The study, conducted by evolutionary biologists Joan Strassmann and David Queller of Rice University, has shown that long-studied social amoebae dictyostellum discoideum (commonly known as slime molds) increase their odds of survival through a rudimentary form of agriculture. The research, led by Debra Brock, a graduate student at Rice, found that some amoebae sequester their food — particular strains of bacteria — for later use. "We now know that primitively social slime molds have genetic variation in their ability to farm beneficial bacteria as a food source," says George Gilchrist, programme director in the National Science Foundation’s Division of Environmental Biology, which funded the research. "But the catch is
that with the benefits of a portable food source, comes the cost of
harbouring harmful bacteria." After these "farmer"
amoebae aggregate into a slug, they migrate in search of nourishment
— and form a fruiting body, or a stalk of dead amoebae topped by a
sorus, a structure containing fertile spores. Then, they release the
bacteria-containing spores to the environment as feedstock for
continued growth. The findings run counter to the presumption that all
"Dicty" eat everything in sight before they enter the social
spore-forming stage. Non-farmer amoebae do eat everything, but farmers
were found to leave food uneaten, and their slugs don’t travel as
far. Perhaps because they don’t have to. The researchers found that
instead of consuming all the bacteria they encounter, these amoebae
eat less and incorporate bacteria into their migratory systems. The
study has been reported in the journal Nature. — ANI
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