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The upcoming discussion will update you about the differences between myxomy and phycomycetes.
Difference # Myxomycetes (Slime Molds):
1. The somatic phase is a multinucleate, diploid holocarpic Plasmodium which is the product of syngamy.
2. The Plasmodium is free living and capable of engulfing particulate matter and of executing movements over the substratum. It has the capacity for Plasmodium coalescence (somatic fusion) in which fusion of nuclei is not involved.
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3. The diploid phase, as represented by the Plasmodium, is propagated by fission and prolonged by the formation of polynucleate, thick-walled cysts or a sclerotium-like structure.
4. The Plasmodium reproduces by the formation of uninucleate, thick-walled resting spores which are produced within minute fruiting bodies called sporangia.
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5. The spores in the slime molds are differentiated by meiosis from the diploid protoplast of the sporangium.
6. The thick-walled resting spores which belong to the category of meiospores are uninucleate and non-motile
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7. On germination, each resting spore produces 1-4 biflagellate swarm cells which fuse in pairs to form the zygote. The latter by growth gradually becomes changed into a multinucleate Plasmodium.
8. The motile cells in the life cycle are biflagellate. Both the flagella are of whiplash type but unequal in length.
9. The haploid phase in the slime mold is inconspicuous and restricted to the resting spores and swarm cells.
Difference # Phycomycetes (Lower Fungi):
1. With the exception of a few, the somatic phase is a filamentous, haploid structure called a mycelium. It is generally eucarpic and is the product of germination of spore.
2. The mycelium is anchored to the substratum and lacks all the attributes possessed by the Plasmodium. It absorbs nutrition either by living as a parasite or as a saprophyte.
3. The prolongation of the diploid phase by the formation of special structures is unusual among the Phycomycetes.
4. The mycelium reproduces asexually by the formation of uninucleate or multinuleate spores produced endogenously within sporangia and sometimes by conidia produced exogenously at the tips of hyphae.
5. The spores and conidia are differentiated from the haploid protoplast by mitosis.
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6. The sporangiospore and conidia which belong to the category of mitospores may be uninucleate or multinucleate. The sporangiospores may be motile or nonmotile but conidia are always nonmotile.
7. On germination, the mitospore (sporangiospore or conidium) produces the mycelium.
8. The motile cells may be uni- or biflagellate. In the latter case one flagellum is of whiplash type and the other tinsel.
9. Reverse is the case in the Phycomycetes. The diploid phase, as represented by the zygospore, is inconspicuous.
