Data from: Allorecognition behaviors in myxomycetes respond to intraspecies factors

Myxomycetes are multinucleate unicellular organisms. They form a
plasmodium that moves by protoplasmic flow and prey on microorganisms.
When encountering intraspecifics, the plasmodium has the capacity for
‘fusion’, actively approaching and fusing its cells, or
'avoidance', altering its direction to avoid the other
individual. This is an allorecognition ability. However, it remains
unclear whether the range of allorecognition extends to other species, and
its ecological significance is also obscure. Here, we conduct a
quantitative evaluation of contact responses from closely related species
of plasmodium to clarify the recognition range of the allorecognition
system in Myxomycetes. Behavioural assays demonstrate that the
allorecognition system recognizes individuals within the same species
while failing to recognize those of different species. The allorecognition
is an extremely narrow and inward-focused mechanism, arguing for a highly
specialized system of self-other recognition.