Transition from isotropic to digitated growth modulates network formation in Physarum polycephalumShow others and affiliations
2017 (English)In: Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, ISSN 0022-3727, E-ISSN 1361-6463, Vol. 50, no 1, article id 014002Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
Some organisms, including fungi, ants, and slime molds, explore their environment and forage by forming interconnected networks. The plasmodium of the slime mold Physarum polycephalum is a large unicellular amoeboid organism that grows a tubular spatial network through which nutrients, body mass, and chemical signals are transported. Individual plasmodia are capable of sophisticated behaviours such as optimizing their network connectivity and dynamics using only decentralized information processing. In this study, we used a population of plasmodia that interconnect through time to analyse the dynamical interactions between growth of individual plasmodia and global network formation. Our results showed how initial conditions, such as the distance between plasmodia, their size, or the presence and quality of food, affect the emerging network connectivity.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2017. Vol. 50, no 1, article id 014002
Keywords [en]
transportation networks, slime molds, exploration, foraging, pattern formation
National Category
Bioinformatics (Computational Biology)
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:uu:diva-311475DOI: 10.1088/1361-6463/50/1/014002ISI: 000389050000001OAI: oai:DiVA.org:uu-311475DiVA, id: diva2:1060611
Funder
EU, European Research Council, IDCAB 220/1047020032016-12-292016-12-282018-01-13Bibliographically approved