An Artificial Development Model for Cell Pattern Generation
Cell pattern formation has a crucial role in both artificial and natural development. This paper presents an artificial development model for cell pattern generation based on the cellular automata (CA) paradigm. Cellular growth is controlled by a genome c
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Universidad de Guadalajara, Perif´erico Norte 799, Zapopan, Jal., Mexico CP 45000 2 Universit´e de Toulouse 1, 1 Place Anatole France, 31042 Toulouse, France 3 Institut de Recherche en Informatique et T´el´ecommunications, 118 Route de Narbonne, 31062 Toulouse, France [email protected] [email protected]
Abstract. Cell pattern formation has a crucial role in both artificial and natural development. This paper presents an artificial development model for cell pattern generation based on the cellular automata (CA) paradigm. Cellular growth is controlled by a genome consisting of an artificial regulatory network (ARN) and a series of structural genes. The genome was evolved by a Genetic Algorithm (GA) in order to produce 2D cell patterns through the selective activation and inhibition of genes. Morphogenetic gradients were used to provide cells with positional information that constrained cellular replication. After a genome was evolved, a single cell in the middle of the CA lattice was allowed to reproduce until a cell pattern was formed. The model was applied to the problem of growing a French flag pattern. Keywords: Artificial Development, Cell Pattern, French Flag Problem, Genetic Algorithm, Artificial Regulatory Network, Cellular Automata.
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Introduction
In biological systems, development is a fascinating and very complex process that involves following an extremely intricate program coded in the organism’s genome. One of the crucial stages in the development of an organism is that of pattern formation, where the fundamental body plans of the individual are outlined. It is now evident that gene regulatory networks play a central role in the development and metabolism of living organisms [1]. It has been discovered in recent years that the diverse cell patterns created during the developmental stages are mainly due to the selective activation and inhibition of very specific regulatory genes. Over the years, artificial models of cellular development have been proposed with the objective of understanding how complex structures and patterns can emerge from one or a small group of initial undifferentiated cells [2][3][4][5][6]. In this paper we propose an artificial development model that generates 2D patterns by means of the selective activation and inhibition of development genes under M. Randall, H.A. Abbass, and J. Wiles (Eds.): ACAL 2007, LNAI 4828, pp. 61–71, 2007. c Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2007
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A. Chavoya and Y. Duthen
the constraints of morphogenetic gradients. Cellular growth is achieved through the expression of structural genes, which are in turn controlled by an Artificial Regulatory Network (ARN) evolved by a Genetic Algorithm (GA). The ARN determines when cells are allowed to grow and which gene to use for reproduction, while morphogenetic gradients constrain the position at which cells can replicate. Both the ARN and the structural genes constitute the artificial cell’s genome. In order to test the functionality of the development program found by the GA, we applied the evolved genom
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