Flagellar Studies on Zoospores of Some Members of the Mycetozoa, Plasmodiophorales, and Chytridiales

Abstract

After germination, swarm cells were killed, fixed, stained and mounted in Canadian balsam. Biflagellate zoospores were observed in Stemonitis ferruginea, S. fusca and Fuligo septica and in all zoospores, whether uniflagellate or biflagellate, two blepharoplasts were demonstrated. The Mycetozoa studied possessed the whiplash or blunt-ended type of flagellum. The similar zoospores demonstrated in Plasmodiophora brassicae indicate the possibility of relationships to the Mycetozoa rather than the Woroninaceae which have been shown to have the tinsel type for one flagellum and the whiplash type for the other. Synchytrium decipiens and Nowakowskiella sp. have the whiplash type of flagellum.