title: Quantum algorithm for programmed cell death of Caenorhabditis elegans.
abstract: During the development of Caenorhabditis elegans, through cell divisions, a total of exactly 1090 cells are generated, 131 of which undergo programmed cell death (PCD) to result in an adult organism comprising 959 cells. Of those 131, exactly 113 undergo PCD during embryogenesis, subdivided across the cell lineages in the following fashion: 98 for AB lineage; 14 for MS lineage; and 1 for C lineage. Is there a law underlying these numbers, and if there is, what could it be? Here we wish to show that the count of the cells undergoing PCD complies with the cipher laws related to the algorithms of Shor and of Grover.
authors.affiliation: Transgenic Laboratory, Hainan Medical College, Haikou 571101, PR China. dkjqjx@163.com
authors.forename: Ke Jia
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Dong
authors.forename: Jian Xin
authors.initials: JX
authors.lastname: Qian
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000502:physiology*; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000166:cytology* / Q000196:embryology* / Q000254:growth & development; D019070:Cell Lineage; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D008433:Mathematics; D008962:Models, Theoretical