title: Towards a Physarum learning chip.
abstract: Networks of protoplasmic tubes of organism Physarum polycehpalum are macro-scale structures which optimally span multiple food sources to avoid repellents yet maximize coverage of attractants. When data are presented by configurations of attractants and behaviour of the slime mould is tuned by a range of repellents, the organism preforms computation. It maps given data configuration into a protoplasmic network. To discover physical means of programming the slime mould computers we explore conductivity of the protoplasmic tubes; proposing that the network connectivity of protoplasmic tubes shows pathway-dependent plasticity. To demonstrate this we encourage the slime mould to span a grid of electrodes and apply AC stimuli to the network. Learning and weighted connections within a grid of electrodes is produced using negative and positive voltage stimulation of the network at desired nodes; low frequency (10 Hz) sinusoidal (0.5 V peak-to-peak) voltage increases connectivity between stimulated electrodes while decreasing connectivity elsewhere, high frequency (1000 Hz) sinusoidal (2.5 V peak-to-peak) voltage stimulation decreases network connectivity between stimulated electrodes. We corroborate in a particle model. This phenomenon may be used for computation in the same way that neural networks process information and has the potential to shed light on the dynamics of learning and information processing in non-neural metazoan somatic cell networks.
authors.affiliation: International Centre in Unconventional Computing, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK.
authors.forename: James G H
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Whiting
authors.affiliation: International Centre in Unconventional Computing, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK.
authors.forename: Jeff
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.affiliation: International Centre in Unconventional Computing, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK.
authors.forename: Larry
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bull
authors.affiliation: Tufts Center for Regenerative and Developmental Biology, Tufts University, Medford, USA.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Levin
authors.affiliation: International Centre in Unconventional Computing, University of the West of England, Bristol, UK.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Adamatzky
mesh_terms: D003593:Cytoplasm / Q000378:metabolism*; D004553:Electric Conductivity; D008954:Models, Biological; D016571:Neural Networks, Computer; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D016839:Physarum polycephalum / Q000378:metabolism*
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1999 Apr 13;96(8):4216-8
references.pmid: 10200239
references.citation: Nat Neurosci. 2000 Nov;3 Suppl:1171-7
references.pmid: 11127834
references.citation: Biophys Chem. 2001 Aug 30;92(1-2):47-52
references.pmid: 11527578
references.citation: Calcif Tissue Int. 2002 Jun;70(6):435-42
references.pmid: 12149636
references.citation: Ann Bot. 2003 Jul;92(1):1-20
references.pmid: 12740212
references.citation: BMC Cell Biol. 2003 Jul 31;4:9
references.pmid: 12892570
references.citation: Biosystems. 2003 Oct;71(3):257-87
references.pmid: 14563567
references.citation: Immunol Today. 1992 Dec;13(12):490-4
references.pmid: 1463581
references.citation: Biosystems. 2004 Jan;73(1):45-55
references.pmid: 14729281
references.citation: Immunol Today. 1992 Nov;13(11):441-4
references.pmid: 1476598
references.citation: Biophys Chem. 2004 Jan 1;107(1):1-5
references.pmid: 14871595
references.citation: J Interv Card Electrophysiol. 2004 Dec;11(3):177-82
references.pmid: 15548883
references.citation: IEEE Trans Biomed Eng. 2005 Mar;52(3):371-83
references.pmid: 15759567
references.citation: Biophys Chem. 2007 Jul;128(2-3):253-60
references.pmid: 17513034
references.citation: Phys Rev E Stat Nonlin Soft Matter Phys. 2007 May;75(5 Pt 1):050901
references.pmid: 17677014
references.citation: Prog Brain Res. 2008;168:169-74
references.pmid: 18166394
references.citation: Artif Life. 2008 Spring;14(2):203-22
references.pmid: 18331191
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Mar 10;106(10):4048-53
references.pmid: 19234119
references.citation: Plant Signal Behav. 2008 Jul;3(7):490-2
references.pmid: 19704496
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Sep 1;106(35):14855-60
references.pmid: 19706392
references.citation: Artif Life. 2010 Spring;16(2):127-53
references.pmid: 20067403
references.citation: PLoS One. 2010 Jan 25;5(1):e8871
references.pmid: 20111726
references.citation: Biosystems. 2010 Jul;101(1):51-8
references.pmid: 20416355
references.citation: Biosystems. 2011 Mar;103(3):331-41
references.pmid: 21070831
references.citation: Science. 2011 Jan 7;331(6013):87-91
references.pmid: 21212357
references.citation: J Neurosci. 2011 Apr 27;31(17):6542-52
references.pmid: 21525295
references.citation: Biochim Biophys Acta. 2012 Aug;1818(8):1884-94
references.pmid: 21930112
references.citation: Bioinspir Biomim. 2012 Mar;7(1):016009
references.pmid: 22278961
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012 Oct 23;109(43):17490-4
references.pmid: 23045640
references.citation: Biosystems. 2013 Apr;112(1):1-10
references.pmid: 23438635
references.citation: IEEE Trans Cybern. 2014 Jan;44(1):126-36
references.pmid: 23757537
references.citation: Elife. 2013 Jun 25;2:e00669
references.pmid: 23805380
references.citation: PLoS One. 2013 Aug 01;8(8):e70366
references.pmid: 23936417
references.citation: Cell. 2013 Dec 5;155(6):1244-57
references.pmid: 24315096
references.citation: Trends Cell Biol. 2014 Mar;24(3):198-207
references.pmid: 24342435
references.citation: Oecologia. 2014 May;175(1):63-72
references.pmid: 24390479
references.citation: Plant Signal Behav. 2014;9(1):e27886
references.pmid: 24476640
references.citation: Biosystems. 2014 May;119:45-52
references.pmid: 24695059
references.citation: Biosystems. 2014 Oct;124:21-5
references.pmid: 25102081
references.citation: Conf Proc IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc. 2014;2014:4042-5
references.pmid: 25570879
references.citation: Biosystems. 2015 Feb;128:48-51
references.pmid: 25636247
references.citation: Biosystems. 2015 Aug;134:16-23
references.pmid: 26007225
references.citation: Integr Biol (Camb). 2015 Dec;7(12):1487-517
references.pmid: 26571046
references.citation: Chem Sci. 2015 May 1;6(5):2859-2868
references.pmid: 28706673
references.citation: Biol Cybern. 1997 Mar;76(3):207-15
references.pmid: 9151418
references.citation: J Cell Biol. 1976 Apr;69(1):218-23
references.pmid: 943401
references.citation: Biophys J. 1999 Feb;76(2):670-8
references.pmid: 9929472