Slime mold

A fungus-like protist that feeds on microorganisms and decaying organic matter, often as amoeboid cells or a spreading mass. Despite its name and appearance, it is not a fungus.

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Amoeba: A single-celled organism that moves and feeds using extensions of its cell membrane. Many slime molds spend part of their life cycle as individual amoeboid cells.
Plasmodium (biology): A multinucleate mass of cytoplasm enclosed by one cell membrane, formed in some slime molds. This spreading stage moves across surfaces while feeding without dividing into separate cells.
Fungi: A kingdom of eukaryotes that absorb nutrients and commonly grow as networks of hyphae. Slime molds resemble fungi but are not members of the fungal kingdom.
Model organism: A species studied intensively to investigate biological processes that apply beyond that species. Dictyostelium and Physarum provide experimentally accessible systems for studying cell behavior.
Protist: A broad, informal grouping of eukaryotic organisms that are not animals, plants, or fungi. Slime molds belong among eukaryotes traditionally grouped as protists.
Cellular slime mold: A slime mold whose independent amoeboid cells aggregate into a multicellular reproductive structure. Its coordinated mass differs from the single-cell plasmodium of plasmodial slime molds.
Mycelium: A branching network of fungal hyphae that grows through a food source. A slime-mold plasmodium can look like mycelium but is one multinucleate cell.
Chemotaxis: Directed movement of a cell or organism in response to a chemical gradient. Slime-mold cells and plasmodia can orient movement toward food-related chemical cues.
Eukaryote: An organism whose cells have nuclei and other membrane-bound compartments. Slime molds share this basic cell organization with animals, plants, and fungi.
Dictyostelium discoideum: A cellular slime mold used extensively to study cell signaling, development, and cooperation. Its starving amoebae aggregate into a migrating slug and then a fruiting body.