User:Ricky Perryman/sandbox

Reproduction of Physarum polycephalum
Slime molds are isogamous organisms, which means their sex cells are all the same size. There are over 900 species of slime molds that exist today. Physarum polycephalum is one species that has three sex genes--matA, matB, and matC. The first two types have thirteen separate variations. MatC, however, only has three variations. Each sexually mature slime mold contains two copies of each of the three sex genes. When Physarum polycephalum is ready to make its sex cells, it grows a bulbous extension of its body to contain them. Each cell is created with a random combination of the genes that the slime mold contains within its genome. Therefore, it can create cells with up to eight different gene types. Once these cells are released, they are independent and tasked with finding another cell it is able to fuse with. Other Physarum polycephalum may contain different combinations of the matA, matB, and matC genes, allowing over five hundred possible variations. It is advantageous for organisms with this type of reproductive cells to have many sexes because the likelihood of the cells finding a partner is greatly increased. At the same time, the risk of inbreeding as drastically reduced.

Reproduction of Dictyostelium discoideum
Dictyostelium discoideum is another species of slime mold that has many different sexes. When this organism has entered the stage of reproduction, is releases an attractant, called acrasin. Acrasin is made up of cyclic adenosine monophosphate, or cyclic AMP. Cyclic AMP is crucial in passing hormone signals between sex cells. When it comes time for the cells to fuse, Dictyostelium discoideum has mating types of its own that dictate which cells are compatible with each other. These include NC-4, WS 582, WS 583, WS 584, WS 5-1, WS 7, WS 10, WS 11-1, WS 28-1, WS 57-6, and WS 112b. A scientific study demonstrated the compatibility of these eleven mating types of Dictyostelium discoideum by monitoring the formation of macrocysts. For example, WS 583 is very compatible with WS 582, but not NC-4. It was concluded that cell contact between the compatible mating types needs to occur before macrocysts can form.

Peer Review Response
The students who peer reviewed this article suggested I should add links to other Wikipedia articles, as well as adding an image. They also advised me to add information about another species. Lastly, I was told to discuss examples across different taxonomic groups and compare them. I will add links to other Wikipedia articles (four) where I see fit. I will also find an image related to slime mold reproduction. I think it would be beneficial to add information about one more species of slime mold. However, I cannot include examples of both plants and megafauna because it is inappropriate when regarding slime molds (they are not plants).