Ferdinand Peperer 1, Kasuhiro Oiwa er 2, Susumu Adachi 1, Chikako Shingyojier 3, and Jia Leeer 1
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National Institute of Information and Communications Technology(NICT), |
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Nanotechnology Group, 588-2 Iwaoca, Iwaoka-cho, Kobe,651-2401 Japan |
sadachi, lijia}@nict.go.jp |
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National Institute of Information and Communications Technology(NICT), |
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Protein Biophysics Group, 588-2 Iwaoka-cho, Kobe,651-2401 Japan |
oiwa@po.nict.go.jp |
3
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University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Sciences, Dept, of Biological Sciences, |
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Hongo, Tokyo, 113-0033 Japan, |
chikako@bio1.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp |
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Abstract. Sperbatozoa propel themselves in fluids through a rhythmically beating flagellum. Though it is known that the motor protein
"dynein" is at the base of such movements, it is unclear how the behavior of individual elements add up to the coordinated movement of the
flagellum. Being single-cell entities, spermatozoa lack nerve systems, so
an explanation for their movements ought to be found in a mechanism on
molecular scales. This paper airms to clarify part of a possible mechanism
in terms of asynchronous cellular automata. The question answered is:"Given a 1-dimensional cellular automaton with von Neumann neighborhood of which each cell--being updated at random times--cycles through
three states: how can waves,i.e.,patterns of cells in certain states,be
formed that on average move in one direction?''
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