Cell and Developmental Biology Commons^™

Understanding The Evolution Of Aggregative Multicellularity: A Molecular Phylogenetic Study Of The Cellular Slime Mold Genera Sorodiplophrys And Pocheina, Alexander Tice

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Cellular slime molds are amoeboid protists that have a unicellular trophic phase and multicellular dispersal stage formed through the aggregation of individuals in their life cycles. These organisms were once thought to form a monophyletic group in the Mycetozoa. After careful morphological, ultrastructural, and molecular studies, cellular slime molds are now thought to be distantly related organisms that have all converged on the cellular slime mold habit. The following thesis consists of two molecular phylogenetic studies on two named genera of cellular slime mold for which little or no molecular data were publically available. In the first study, gene sequence …