Mechanosensation Mediates Long-Range Spatial Decision-Making in an Aneural Organism
N. Murugan, D. Kaltman, H. Jin, M. Chien, R. Flores, C. Nguyen, D. Tuzoff, A. Minabutdinov, A. Kane, R. Novak, D. Ingber, M. Levin
This paper shows that the aneural protist Physarum polycephalum uses mechanosensation to preferentially grow toward heavier, chemically inert masses, revealing a novel biomechanical decision-making mechanism.
bioRxiv · Mar 20, 2020Animal Behavior & Cognition