Mechanism of signal propagation in Physarum polycephalum.

ABSTRACT: Complex behaviors are typically associated with animals, but the capacity to integrate information and function as a coordinated individual is also a ubiquitous but poorly understood feature of organisms such as slime molds and fungi. Plasmodial slime molds grow as networks and use flexible, undifferentiated body plans to forage for food. How an individual communicates across its network remains a puzzle, but Physarum polycephalum has emerged as a novel model used to explore emergent dynamics. Within P. polycephalum, cytoplasm is shuttled in a peristaltic wave driven by cross-sectional contractions of tubes. We first track P. polycephalum's response to a localized nutrient stimulus and observe a front of increased contraction. The front propagates with a velocity compa

SUBMITTER: Alim K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5441820 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature