Cycloheximide Insensitive Amoebo‐Flagellate Transformation in Starved Amoebae of Physarum polycephalum

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Abstract
The requirement of protein synthesis for amoebo-flagellate transformation of P. polycephalum was re-examined. When amoebae were grown on nutrient agar in association with live food bacteria and harvested in mid-exponential phase of growth, it took .apprx. 2 h for half the cells to form flagella after suspension in phosphate buffer. The transformation was completely inhibited by 5 .mu.g/ml cycloheximide. To the contrary, when the amoebae in mid-exponential phase were starved for 3 h on non-nutrient agar and then suspended in phosphate buffer, the duration required for this process was shortened to .apprx. 8 min and it was not inhibited by up to 100 .mu.g/ml cycloheximide. A similar result was obtained using bactobolin, another inhibitor of protein synthesis. When amoebae were starved on non-nutrient agar containing 5 .mu.g/ml cycloheximide, however, the starvation effect described above was not observed. Protein(s) necessary for the transformation might be synthesized during the starvation period, and the amoebo-flagellate transformation may or may not require concomitant protein synthesis, depending on preculture conditions.