Emergence of behaviour in a self-organized living matter network

eLife

Philipp Fleig¹  Michael Wilczek²  Mirna Kramar²  Karen Alim³ 

[1] Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, United States;Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Göttingen, Germany;Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Göttingen, Germany;Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Göttingen, Germany;Physik-Department and Center for Protein Assemblies, Technische Universität München, Garching, Germany;

关键词: ethology;    flow network;    unicellular;    self-organisation;    living matter;    Other;   

DOI  :  10.7554/eLife.62863

来源: eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd

【 摘 要 】

What is the origin of behaviour? Although typically associated with a nervous system, simple organisms also show complex behaviours. Among them, the slime mold Physarum polycephalum, a giant single cell, is ideally suited to study emergence of behaviour. Here, we show how locomotion and morphological adaptation behaviour emerge from self-organized patterns of rhythmic contractions of the actomyosin lining of the tubes making up the network-shaped organism. We quantify the spatio-temporal contraction dynamics by decomposing experimentally recorded contraction patterns into spatial contraction modes. Notably, we find a continuous spectrum of modes, as opposed to a few dominant modes. Our data suggests that the continuous spectrum of modes allows for dynamic transitions between a plethora of specific behaviours with transitions marked by highly irregular contraction states. By mapping specific behaviours to states of active contractions, we provide the basis to understand behaviour’s complexity as a function of biomechanical dynamics.

【 授权许可】

CC BY