National Academy of Agricultural Sciences (NAAS)
|
PRINT ISSN : 2319-7692
Online ISSN : 2319-7706 Issues : 12 per year Publisher : Excellent Publishers Email : editorijcmas@gmail.com submit@ijcmas.com Editor-in-chief: Dr.M.Prakash Index Copernicus ICV 2018: 95.39 NAAS RATING 2020: 5.38 |
The increasing interest in unconventional computing has created new possibilities for using living biological systems along with electronic devices. Physarum polycephalum, commonly known as slime mould, is one such organism that has gained attention because of its unique growth pattern, environmental responses and electrical activity. These properties make it an interesting biological system for studying information processing and bioelectronic devices. This review focuses on the reported memristive behaviour of P. polycephalum and its possible use in biological and hybrid computing systems. The review discusses the basic electrical characteristics of the organism, its interaction with electrodes and the factors that can influence its electrical response. Its potential applications in sensing, unconventional computing, adaptive information processing and neuromorphic systems are also considered. At the same time, using living slime mould as an electronic component presents several challenges. Variations in biological conditions, device preparation, electrical measurements and maintenance of the organism can affect the reproducibility of the system. There are also questions regarding the exact mechanism responsible for the reported memristive behaviour. Future studies should focus on better standardisation, understanding the underlying mechanisms and developing reliable biohybrid devices. Overall, P. polycephalum provides an interesting approach for exploring the connection between living systems and emerging electronic technologies.
Adamatzky, A. (2015). Slime mould processors, logic gates and sensors. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences, 373(2046), 20140216.
Braund, E. and Miranda, E.R. (2017). On building practical biocomputers for real-world applications: Receptacles for culturing slime mould memristors and component standardisation. Journal of Bionic Engineering, 14(1), pp.151–162.
Dimonte, A., Battistoni, S. and Erokhin, V. (2016). Physarum in hybrid electronic devices. In: Adamatzky, A. (Ed.), Advances in Physarum Machines: Sensing and Computing with Slime Mould. Springer, pp.91–107.
Gale, E., Adamatzky, A. and de Lacy Costello, B. (2014). Slime mould memristors. BioNanoScience, 5(1), pp.1–8.
Gale, E., Adamatzky, A. and de Lacy Costello, B. (2016). On the memristive properties of slime mould. In: Adamatzky, A. (Ed.), Advances in Physarum Machines: Sensing and Computing with Slime Mould. Springer, pp.75–90.
LaRocco, J., Tahmina, Q., Petreaca, R., Simonis, J. and Hill, J. (2025). Sustainable memristors from shiitake mycelium for high-frequency bioelectronics. PLOS ONE, 20(10), e0328965.
Mayne, R., Roberts, N., Phillips, N., Weerasekera, R. and Adamatzky, A. (2023). Propagation of electrical signals by fungi. BioSystems, 229, 104933.
Miranda, E.R. and Braund, E. (2017). A method for growing bio-memristors from slime mold. Journal of Visualized Experiments, 2017(129), 56076.
Pershin, Y., La Fontaine, S. and Di Ventra, M. (2008). Memristive model of amoeba's learning. Nature Precedings.
Reid, C.R. (2023). Thoughts from the forest floor: A review of cognition in the slime mould Physarum polycephalum. Animal Cognition, 26(6), pp.1783–1797.
Schmidt, M., Seyfried, G., Reutina, U., Seskir, Z. and Miranda, E.R. (2025). Electrical characterization of the alleged bio-memristor Physarum polycephalum. MRS Advances, 10, pp.1710–1716.
Tarabella, G., D'Angelo, P., Cifarelli, A., Dimonte, A., Romeo, A., Berzina, T., Erokhin, V. and Iannotta, S. (2015). A hybrid living/organic electrochemical transistor based on the Physarum polycephalum cell endowed with both sensing and memristive properties. Chemical Science, 6(5), pp.2859–2868.
Taylor, B., Adamatzky, A., Greenman, J. and Ieropoulos, I. (2015). Physarum polycephalum: Towards a biological controller. BioSystems, 127, pp.42–46.
Tzouvadaki, I., Gkoupidenis, P., Vassanelli, S., Wang, S. and Prodromakis, T. (2023). Interfacing biology and electronics with memristive materials. Advanced Materials, 35(12), e2210035.
Walter, X.A., Horsfield, I., Mayne, R., Ieropoulos, I.A. and Adamatzky, A. (2016). On hybrid circuits exploiting thermistive properties of slime mould. Scientific Reports, 6, 23924.
Wang, S., Wang, R., Cao, Y., Ma, X., Wang, H. and Hao, Y. (2023). Bio-voltage memristors: From physical mechanisms to neuromorphic interfaces. Advanced Electronic Materials, 9(4), 2200972.
Citations
|
|
|
