Summary
The plasmodium ofPhysarum polycephalum usually migrates coordinately as one whole body even in a complicated environment. By measuring oscillation phenomena in endoplasm and ectoplasm separately during chemotactic process, we studied the mechanism of information processing to achieve such a coordination. (1) The interaction between endoplasmic oscillators was long-range, competitive according to the length of period, and fast (18 cm/min). Ectoplasmic one was short-range. (2) After a partial stimulation of attractant to the organism, the period at the stimulated portion decreased first, and a global phase gradient appeared in endoplasm. Then ectoplasm at the non-stimulated portion was entrained to the endoplasmic pattern, and the migration direction at each part changed in accordance with the phase gradient as a whole body. (3) When the endoplasmic interaction was interrupted, the above coordinated response was not observed. These facts suggest that two-layer coupled oscillator system composed of endoplasm and ectoplasm play important roles for such an information integration.
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Miyake, Y., Yano, M. & Shimizu, H. Relationship between endoplasmic and ectoplasmic oscillations during chemotaxis ofPhysarum polycephalum . Protoplasma 162, 175–181 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02562560
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02562560