抄録
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.
本文言語 | English |
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ページ(範囲) | 659-667 |
ページ数 | 9 |
ジャーナル | Journal of Theoretical Biology |
巻 | 253 |
号 | 4 |
DOI | |
出版ステータス | Published - 2008 8月 21 |
外部発表 | はい |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- 統計学および確率
- モデリングとシミュレーション
- 生化学、遺伝学、分子生物学(全般)
- 免疫学および微生物学(全般)
- 農業および生物科学(全般)
- 応用数学