Minimal model of a cell connecting amoebic motion and adaptive transport networks

J Theor Biol. 2008 Aug 21;253(4):659-67. doi: 10.1016/j.jtbi.2008.04.017. Epub 2008 Apr 26.

Abstract

A cell is a minimal self-sustaining system that can move and compute. Previous work has shown that a unicellular slime mold, Physarum, can be utilized as a biological computer based on cytoplasmic flow encapsulated by a membrane. Although the interplay between the modification of the boundary of a cell and the cytoplasmic flow surrounded by the boundary plays a key role in Physarum computing, no model of a cell has been developed to describe this interplay. Here we propose a toy model of a cell that shows amoebic motion and can solve a maze, Steiner minimum tree problem and a spanning tree problem. Only by assuming that cytoplasm is hardened after passing external matter (or softened part) through a cell, the shape of the cell and the cytoplasmic flow can be changed. Without cytoplasm hardening, a cell is easily destroyed. This suggests that cytoplasmic hardening and/or sol-gel transformation caused by external perturbation can keep a cell in a critical state leading to a wide variety of shapes and motion.

MeSH terms

  • Adaptation, Physiological
  • Algorithms
  • Amoeba / physiology*
  • Animals
  • Computer Simulation*
  • Cybernetics
  • Cytoplasmic Streaming / physiology*
  • Models, Biological
  • Movement / physiology*
  • Problem Solving