Smith E, Williams K L
J Embryol Exp Morphol. 1981 Feb;61:61-7.
Young slugs of the cellular slime mould Dictyostelium discoideum drop small numbers of individual amoebae (approximately 10/mm) in the slime trail. With increased time of migration, slugs develop trailing tails and leave clumps of cells in their slime trails. Using reciprocal transplants between tips of young and old slugs and between a wild-type strain and an 'aged" mutant it was shown that this age-dependent cell loss is due to changes in the bulk of cells comprising the slug, rather than to changes in the effectiveness of the tip (organizer region). Another property of the slug, the decision to continue migrating or form a fruiting body which is controlled by the tip, was less affected by age. This raises the possibility that cell autonomous properties of the slug are more subject to ageing than is the tip.
细胞黏菌盘基网柄菌的幼蛞蝓在黏液轨迹中掉落少量单个变形虫（约10个/毫米）。随着迁移时间的增加，蛞蝓会形成拖尾，并在其黏液轨迹中留下细胞团。通过在幼蛞蝓和老蛞蝓的尖端之间以及野生型菌株和“老化”突变体之间进行相互移植，结果表明这种与年龄相关的细胞损失是由于构成蛞蝓的大部分细胞发生了变化，而不是由于尖端（组织者区域）的有效性发生了变化。蛞蝓的另一个特性，即由尖端控制的继续迁移或形成子实体的决定，受年龄的影响较小。这增加了一种可能性，即蛞蝓的细胞自主特性比尖端更容易受到衰老的影响。
