Phenotypic variability in unicellular organisms: from calcium signalling to social behaviour

Vogel, David; Nicolis, Stamatios C.; Pérez‐Escudero, Alfonso; Nanjundiah, Vidyanand; Sumpter, David J. T.; Dussutour, Audrey

doi:10.1098/rspb.2015.2322

Cited by 29 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Chemotaxis [33][100] [101] Microtubule associated with chemotaxis [102] [103] Irrationality making food choices [104] To leave chemicals in the environment, which are attractive to congeners to find food. Communicationbased to cooperation and sociality [105]. Fusion microplasmodia to form macroplasmodia in a percolation transition [106].…”

Section: Interactionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Production of fruiting bodies [123][124] [125] Interdependent collective irrationality of cooperative behaviour and violation of the principle of collective decision regularly supply [116] To leave chemicals in the environment, which are attractive to congeners to find food. Communicationbased to cooperation and sociality [105] Fusion microplasmodia to form macroplasmodia in a percolation transition [106] Flexibility [tensegrity] Unit microtubules for migrating towards the conductive cores plasmodium area [96] Ratio of electric current flow and polarization associated with the actin-myosin and microtubules that coordinate the flow (streaming) of the plasmodium and its oscillations to the "mobiligence" [126] Body reconfigurability [Synthesising a situation-dependent or self-destruction of effectors and sensors; to avoid hunger] Plasmodium to sclerotia [111][58] [112] Reaction-diffusion parameters under sol-gel conditions the plasmalemma [95]…”

Section: Cooperationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Slime mould: The fundamental mechanisms of biological cognition

et al. 2018

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The slime mould Physarum polycephalum has been used in developing unconventional computing devices for in which the slime mould played a role of a sensing, actuating, and computing device. These devices treated the slime mould as an active living substrate, yet it is a self-consistent living creature which evolved over millions of years and occupied most parts of the world, but in any case, that living entity did not own true cognition, just automated biochemical mechanisms. To "rehabilitate" slime mould from the rank of a purely living electronics element to a "creature of thoughts" we are analyzing the cognitive potential of P. polycephalum. We base our theory of minimal cognition of the slime mould on a bottom-up approach, from the biological and biophysical nature of the slime mould and its regulatory systems using frameworks such as Lyon's biogenic cognition, Muller, di Primio-Lengelerś modifiable pathways, Bateson's "patterns that connect" framework, Maturana's autopoietic network, or proto-consciousness and Morgan's Canon.

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Section: Interactionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Cooperationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Slime mould: The fundamental mechanisms of biological cognition

et al. 2018

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“…In addition, P. polycephalum exhibits a form of self-signalling and shows chemoattractive movements towards other individuals [18]. When genetically or phenotypically identical slime moulds meet, they fuse to form a single individual [18]. Recently, we revealed that slime moulds showed an adaptive behavioural response when repeatedly exposed to a repellent, thus meeting the criteria for habituation, a simple form of learning [19].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…P. polycephalum demonstrates amazing abilities, such as finding its way through a maze [13], building a smart network [14], solving complex nutritional challenges [15], avoiding being trapped [16] and anticipating periodic events [17]. In addition, P. polycephalum exhibits a form of self-signalling and shows chemoattractive movements towards other individuals [18]. When genetically or phenotypically identical slime moulds meet, they fuse to form a single individual [18].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Direct transfer of learned behaviour via cell fusion in non-neural organisms

Vogel

Dussutour

2016

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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Cell fusion is a fundamental phenomenon observed in all eukaryotes. Cells can exchange resources such as molecules or organelles during fusion. In this paper, we ask whether a cell can also transfer an adaptive response to a fusion partner. We addressed this question in the unicellular slime mould Physarum polycephalum, in which cell-cell fusion is extremely common. Slime moulds are capable of habituation, a simple form of learning, when repeatedly exposed to an innocuous repellent, despite lacking neurons and comprising only a single cell. In this paper, we present a set of experiments demonstrating that slime moulds habituated to a repellent can transfer this adaptive response by cell fusion to individuals that have never encountered the repellent. In addition, we show that a slime mould resulting from the fusion of a minority of habituated slime moulds and a majority of unhabituated ones still shows an adaptive response to the repellent. Finally, we further reveal that fusion must last a certain time to ensure an effective transfer of the behavioural adaptation between slime moulds. Our results provide strong experimental evidence that slime moulds exhibit transfer of learned behaviour during cell fusion and raise the possibility that similar phenomena may occur in other cell-cell fusion systems.

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“…Exploration in slime molds involves two different processes: area extension and movement (27). Slime molds locomotion and morphogenesis depend on the response of the organism to the environmental conditions.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Morphogenesis and dynamics of slime molds in various environments

Patino-Ramirez

Boussard

Arson

et al. 2019

Preprint

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29Cells, including unicellulars, are highly sensitive to external constraints from their 30 environment. Amoeboid cells change their cell shape during locomotion and in 31 response to external stimuli. Physarum polycephalum is a large multinucleated 32 amoeboid cell that extends and develops pseudopods. In this paper, changes in cell 33 behavior and shape were measured during the exploration of homogenous and non-34 homogenous environments that presented neutral, and nutritive and/or adverse 35 substances. In the first place, we developed a fully automated image analysis 36 method to measure quantitatively changes in both migration and shape. Then we 37 measured various metrics that describe the area covered, the exploration dynamics, 38 the migration rate and the slime mold shape. Our results show that: 1) Not only the 39 nature, but also the spatial distribution of chemical substances affect the exploration 40 behavior of slime molds; 2) Nutritive and adverse substances both slow down the 41 exploration and prevent the formation of pseudopods; and 3) Slime mold placed in 42 an adverse environment preferentially occupies previously explored areas rather 43 than unexplored areas using mucus secretion as a buffer. Our results also show that 44 slime molds migrate at a rate governed by the substrate up until they get within a 45 critical distance to chemical substances. 46 47 Author summary 53 54Physarum polycephalum, also called slime mold, is a giant single-celled organism 55 that can grow to cover several square meters, forming search fronts that are 56 connected to a system of intersecting veins. An original experimental protocol 57 allowed tracking the shape of slime mold placed in homogenous substrates 58 containing an attractant (glucose) or a repellent (salt), or inhomogeneous substrates 59 that contained an attractive spot (glucose), an eccentric slime mold and a repulsive 60 spot (salt) in between. For the first time, the rate of exploration of unexplored areas 61 (primary growth) and the rate of extension in previously explored areas (secondary 62 growth) were rigorously measured, by means of a sophisticated image analysis 63 program. This paper shows that the chemical composition of the substrate has more 64 influence on the morphology and growth dynamics of slime mold than that of 65 concentrated spots of chemicals. It was also found that on a repulsive substrate, 66 slime mold exhibits a bias towards secondary growth, which suggests that the mucus 67 produced during slime mold migration acts as a protective shell in adverse 68 environments. 69 70We characterize slime molds' movement both temporally and spatially, to capture the 126 6 full dynamics. To this aim, we develop a program that automatically analyzes 127 sequences of images to track the areas covered and explored by the slime mold, the 128 slime mold shape, the refinement and secondary growth cycles, as well as the 129 distance to the nutritive spot. 130 131 Results 132 1) Homogeneous environment 133In order to study the influence of the envi...

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Phenotypic variability in unicellular organisms: from calcium signalling to social behaviour

Cited by 29 publications

References 39 publications

Slime mould: The fundamental mechanisms of biological cognition

Slime mould: The fundamental mechanisms of biological cognition

Direct transfer of learned behaviour via cell fusion in non-neural organisms

Morphogenesis and dynamics of slime molds in various environments

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