Dresden 2017 – scientific programme

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DY: Fachverband Dynamik und Statistische Physik

DY 17: Physics of Physarum polycephalum and Other Slime Molds - Joint Focus Session (BP/DY) organized by Hans-Günther Döbereiner

DY 17.8: Talk

Tuesday, March 21, 2017, 11:55–12:20, SCH A251

Evolutionary experiments with slime molds — •Martin Grube — Institute of Plant Science, University Graz, 8010 Graz, Austria

Acclimatisation describes adaptive physiological or behavioural changes of an organism, whereas adaptation is a process that involves heredity of selected traits. Slime molds seem to use information about past experiences for optimal decision-making, which is a simple form of learning. Yet it is still unclear to what extent this type of learning is mediated by acclimatization, habituation, or by hereditary adaptation. If slime molds can adapt by hereditary mechanisms to a wider range of growth conditions, and modify their growth features and foraging patterns accordingly, the diverged strains should then consistently differ by these properties, even when grown under the same conditions. We use serial transfers of plasmodia to select the best performing plasmodium after each transfer. By using microplasmodia initially we generate a genetic bottleneck to increase genetic drift. In our work we encountered several challenges, including the size variation of microplasmodia, which may cause a bias in the selection procedure, and which need to be addressed.