Title: Multi-scaled adaptability in motility and pattern formation of the Physarum plasmodium

Authors: T. Shirakawa; K. Yokoyama; M. Yamachiyo; Y-P. Gunji; Y. Miyake

Addresses: School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National Defense Academy of Japan, 1-10-20 Hashirimizu, Yokosuka, Kanagawa 239-8686, Japan. ' School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National Defense Academy of Japan, 1-10-20 Hashirimizu, Yokosuka, Kanagawa 239-8686, Japan. ' Graduate School of Science, Kobe University, 1-1 Rokkodai, Kobe, Hyogo 657-8501, Japan. ' Graduate School of Science, Kobe University, 1-1 Rokkodai, Kobe, Hyogo 657-8501, Japan. ' Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 4259 Nagatsuta, Midori, Yokohama 226-8503, Japan

Abstract: The plasmodium of Physarum polycephalum is a unicellular and multinuclear giant amoeba that has macroscopic size, and by this particular nature the organism is attracting a lot of attention in the research fields such as systems science, nature-inspired bio-computing and swarm behavioural study. In this paper, we investigated how the plasmodium generates new motility and morphology, and found that there are allometric relationships between the cell volume and morphology, and between cell size and cell motility. We further discuss how these relationships are realised, and these relationships are deeply connected to the organism's benefit of being a large-scale unicellular organism.

Keywords: Physarum polycephalum; allometry; cell motility; pattern formation; adaptive behaviours; bio-inspired computation; giant amoebas; cell volume; morphology; cell size; unicellular organisms.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBIC.2012.047236

International Journal of Bio-Inspired Computation, 2012 Vol.4 No.3, pp.131 - 138

Received: 16 Feb 2011
Accepted: 04 May 2011
Published online: 22 Sep 2014 *

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