Single-celled organisms like bacteria and protists have the ability to adapt to the environment and can demonstrate skillful behavior in complex field environments. This behavioral ability seems to be inherited as ‘single-cellular’ behavior in multicellular organisms (sperm motility during fertilization, cell motility in the internal environment, etc.). The fundamental adaptability to the environment that single-celled organisms potentially possess may be shown in the designed artificial conditions. For example, one such instance is that of an amoeboid organism of slime mold, which displays the ability to find the shortest path in a maze of diorama environments. The mechanisms for adaptable behavior can often be formulated using coupled kinetic equations of cell motion and the environment as the maze-solving by slime mold was reproduced by the kinetic model for cell movement toward the spatially distributed multiple food-sources in the maze. The kinetic model gives a hint at algorithm (or heuristics) by which single-celled organism processes environmental information so that they can take an adaptable action.
To find the potential adaptability in unicellular organisms, experimental design of the complex environment is the key. We name such artificial conditions as ‘diorama environments’, where organisms can show their potential adaptability. Diorama environments may mimic the complexity of a habitat but in a setup designed for testing the adaptability. We will explore various adaptable behaviors at single-cell level.
The overall goal is to:
-Identify skillful cell behavior in various species that is exhibited in diorama environments (field environments, the internal environment of multicellular organisms, or industrial environments for example bio-reactor, etc).
-Formulate a mathematical (mechanical) model to describe the adaptable skillful behavior in the complex environment.
-Challenge the elucidation of the algorithm (heuristics) of adaptability through the mathematical modeling for the cell behavior.
Single-celled organisms like bacteria and protists have the ability to adapt to the environment and can demonstrate skillful behavior in complex field environments. This behavioral ability seems to be inherited as ‘single-cellular’ behavior in multicellular organisms (sperm motility during fertilization, cell motility in the internal environment, etc.). The fundamental adaptability to the environment that single-celled organisms potentially possess may be shown in the designed artificial conditions. For example, one such instance is that of an amoeboid organism of slime mold, which displays the ability to find the shortest path in a maze of diorama environments. The mechanisms for adaptable behavior can often be formulated using coupled kinetic equations of cell motion and the environment as the maze-solving by slime mold was reproduced by the kinetic model for cell movement toward the spatially distributed multiple food-sources in the maze. The kinetic model gives a hint at algorithm (or heuristics) by which single-celled organism processes environmental information so that they can take an adaptable action.
To find the potential adaptability in unicellular organisms, experimental design of the complex environment is the key. We name such artificial conditions as ‘diorama environments’, where organisms can show their potential adaptability. Diorama environments may mimic the complexity of a habitat but in a setup designed for testing the adaptability. We will explore various adaptable behaviors at single-cell level.
The overall goal is to:
-Identify skillful cell behavior in various species that is exhibited in diorama environments (field environments, the internal environment of multicellular organisms, or industrial environments for example bio-reactor, etc).
-Formulate a mathematical (mechanical) model to describe the adaptable skillful behavior in the complex environment.
-Challenge the elucidation of the algorithm (heuristics) of adaptability through the mathematical modeling for the cell behavior.