Pub Date : 2025-06-19DOI: 10.1109/TMBMC.2025.3581468
Alexander S. Moffett;Andrew W. Eckford
In an information-processing investment game, such as the growth of a population of organisms in a changing environment, Kelly betting maximizes the expected log rate of growth. In this paper, we show that Kelly bets are closely related to optimal single-letter codes (i.e., they can achieve the rate-distortion bound with equality). Thus, natural information processing systems with limited computational resources can achieve information-theoretically optimal performance. We show that the rate-distortion tradeoff for an investment game has a simple linear bound, and that the bound is achievable at the point where the corresponding single-letter code is optimal. This interpretation has two interesting consequences. First, we show that increasing the organism’s portfolio of potential strategies can lead to optimal performance over a continuous range of channels, even if the strategy portfolio is fixed. Second, we show that increasing an organism’s number of phenotypes (i.e., its number of possible behaviours in response to the environment) can lead to higher growth rate, and we give conditions under which this occurs. Examples illustrating the results in simplified biological scenarios are presented.
{"title":"Kelly Bets and Single-Letter Codes: Optimal Information Processing in Natural Systems","authors":"Alexander S. Moffett;Andrew W. Eckford","doi":"10.1109/TMBMC.2025.3581468","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TMBMC.2025.3581468","url":null,"abstract":"In an information-processing investment game, such as the growth of a population of organisms in a changing environment, Kelly betting maximizes the expected log rate of growth. In this paper, we show that Kelly bets are closely related to optimal single-letter codes (i.e., they can achieve the rate-distortion bound with equality). Thus, natural information processing systems with limited computational resources can achieve information-theoretically optimal performance. We show that the rate-distortion tradeoff for an investment game has a simple linear bound, and that the bound is achievable at the point where the corresponding single-letter code is optimal. This interpretation has two interesting consequences. First, we show that increasing the organism’s portfolio of potential strategies can lead to optimal performance over a continuous range of channels, even if the strategy portfolio is fixed. Second, we show that increasing an organism’s number of phenotypes (i.e., its number of possible behaviours in response to the environment) can lead to higher growth rate, and we give conditions under which this occurs. Examples illustrating the results in simplified biological scenarios are presented.","PeriodicalId":36530,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Molecular, Biological, and Multi-Scale Communications","volume":"11 3","pages":"418-434"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-06-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145036902","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-06-19DOI: 10.1109/TMBMC.2025.3581470
Hongbin Ni;Ozgur B. Akan
Signal detection in diffusion-based molecular communication (MC) is challenged by stochastic propagation, inter-symbol interference (ISI), and rapidly varying microfluidic channels. This paper presents ART-Rx, an adaptive real-time threshold receiver that embeds a proportional–integral–derivative (PID) controller in a conceptual system-on-chip with the detection threshold updated once per symbol interval. Extensive Smoldyn and MATLAB simulations sweep the interferer molecule count, concentration-shift keying (CSK) levels, flow velocity, transmitter–receiver (Tx–Rx) distance, diffusion coefficient, and receptor binding rate. Averaged over the interferer molecule sweep, ART-Rx achieves a mean bit-error ratio (BER) of $1.8times 10^{-2}$ . Across −4 dB ≤ SNR ≤ 19 dB the BER remains below $6.0times 10^{-2}$ , and never exceeds $7.4times 10^{-2}$ for Tx–Rx distances up to $1times 10^{-2},mathrm {m}$ . The closed-loop strategy outperforms a statistical fixed-threshold detector and achieves a $2.6times $ lower BER than a prior non-machine learning (ML) baseline while retaining $mathcal {O}(1)$ operations per symbol. Gain scheduling, coupled with Ziegler—Nichols (Z–N) tuned PID gains and an integral windup clamp, preserves stability across strongly non-linear parameter regimes. These results position ART-Rx as a practical Rx front-end for small, resource-constrained Internet of Bio-Nano Things (IoBNT) nodes and implantable biosensors.
{"title":"ART-Rx: A Proportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) Controlled Adaptive Real-Time Threshold Receiver for Molecular Communication","authors":"Hongbin Ni;Ozgur B. Akan","doi":"10.1109/TMBMC.2025.3581470","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TMBMC.2025.3581470","url":null,"abstract":"Signal detection in diffusion-based molecular communication (MC) is challenged by stochastic propagation, inter-symbol interference (ISI), and rapidly varying microfluidic channels. This paper presents ART-Rx, an adaptive real-time threshold receiver that embeds a proportional–integral–derivative (PID) controller in a conceptual system-on-chip with the detection threshold updated once per symbol interval. Extensive Smoldyn and MATLAB simulations sweep the interferer molecule count, concentration-shift keying (CSK) levels, flow velocity, transmitter–receiver (Tx–Rx) distance, diffusion coefficient, and receptor binding rate. Averaged over the interferer molecule sweep, ART-Rx achieves a mean bit-error ratio (BER) of <inline-formula> <tex-math>$1.8times 10^{-2}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>. Across −4 dB ≤ SNR ≤ 19 dB the BER remains below <inline-formula> <tex-math>$6.0times 10^{-2}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, and never exceeds <inline-formula> <tex-math>$7.4times 10^{-2}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> for Tx–Rx distances up to <inline-formula> <tex-math>$1times 10^{-2},mathrm {m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>. The closed-loop strategy outperforms a statistical fixed-threshold detector and achieves a <inline-formula> <tex-math>$2.6times $ </tex-math></inline-formula> lower BER than a prior non-machine learning (ML) baseline while retaining <inline-formula> <tex-math>$mathcal {O}(1)$ </tex-math></inline-formula> operations per symbol. Gain scheduling, coupled with Ziegler—Nichols (Z–N) tuned PID gains and an integral windup clamp, preserves stability across strongly non-linear parameter regimes. These results position ART-Rx as a practical Rx front-end for small, resource-constrained Internet of Bio-Nano Things (IoBNT) nodes and implantable biosensors.","PeriodicalId":36530,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Molecular, Biological, and Multi-Scale Communications","volume":"11 3","pages":"435-450"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-06-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145036855","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-06-13DOI: 10.1109/TMBMC.2025.3579530
Taha Sajjad;Andrew W. Eckford
Biomolecules exhibit a remarkable property of transforming signals from their environment. This paper presents a communication system design using a light-modulated protein channel: Synthetic Photoisomerizable Azobenzene-regulated K+ (SPARK). Our approach involves a comprehensive design incorporating the SPARK-based receiver, encoding methods, modulation techniques, and detection processes. By analyzing the resulting communication system, we determine how different parameters influence its performance. Furthermore, we explore the potential design in terms of bioengineering and demonstrate that the data rate scales up with the number of receptors, indicating the possibility of achieving high-speed communication.
{"title":"Communication System Design Using Synthetic Photoisomerizable Azobenzene-Regulated K+ (SPARK) Channel","authors":"Taha Sajjad;Andrew W. Eckford","doi":"10.1109/TMBMC.2025.3579530","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TMBMC.2025.3579530","url":null,"abstract":"Biomolecules exhibit a remarkable property of transforming signals from their environment. This paper presents a communication system design using a light-modulated protein channel: Synthetic Photoisomerizable Azobenzene-regulated K+ (SPARK). Our approach involves a comprehensive design incorporating the SPARK-based receiver, encoding methods, modulation techniques, and detection processes. By analyzing the resulting communication system, we determine how different parameters influence its performance. Furthermore, we explore the potential design in terms of bioengineering and demonstrate that the data rate scales up with the number of receptors, indicating the possibility of achieving high-speed communication.","PeriodicalId":36530,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Molecular, Biological, and Multi-Scale Communications","volume":"11 3","pages":"451-461"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-06-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145036900","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-06-12DOI: 10.1109/TMBMC.2025.3574832
{"title":"IEEE Communications Society Information","authors":"","doi":"10.1109/TMBMC.2025.3574832","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TMBMC.2025.3574832","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":36530,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Molecular, Biological, and Multi-Scale Communications","volume":"11 2","pages":"C3-C3"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=11033153","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144272804","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-06-12DOI: 10.1109/TMBMC.2025.3574834
Yifan Chen
{"title":"Special Feature: 15th EAI International Conference on Bio-Inspired Information and Communications Technologies and 1st Asia–Pacific Workshop on Molecular Communications","authors":"Yifan Chen","doi":"10.1109/TMBMC.2025.3574834","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TMBMC.2025.3574834","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":36530,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Molecular, Biological, and Multi-Scale Communications","volume":"11 2","pages":"234-236"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=11033161","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144272915","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-06-12DOI: 10.1109/TMBMC.2025.3574830
{"title":"IEEE Transactions on Molecular, Biological, and Multi-Scale Communications Publication Information","authors":"","doi":"10.1109/TMBMC.2025.3574830","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TMBMC.2025.3574830","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":36530,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Molecular, Biological, and Multi-Scale Communications","volume":"11 2","pages":"C2-C2"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=11033151","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144272953","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-04-29DOI: 10.1109/TMBMC.2025.3565137
Elif Dilek;Vivash Naidoo;Bobin George Abraham;Saravanan Konda Mani;Kasim S. Abass;Sandhanasamy Devanesan;Mohamad S. AlSalhi;Sureka Chandrabose;Olli Yli-Harja;Akshaya Murugesan;Meenakshisundaram Kandhavelu
Cyclic adenosine 3’,5’-monophosphate (cAMP) is a versatile secondary messenger that communicates with Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factor (EPAC) to transfer cellular signaling and regulates numerous physiological conditions. Early studies focused on measuring this communication is considered as crucial in GPCR ligand-mediated EPAC activation, where bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET) sensor has been widely used to study the cAMP level in living cells. However, a BRET sensor pairing with the best brightness and photostability for detecting low levels of cAMP in single and whole-cell populations has yet to be developed. Here, we constructed a novel BRET-based cAMP biosensor with Rluc-Epac-Citrine2. A molecular communication study revealed a significant change of over 100° in the phi value for the residues Thr253, Val259, and Thr260 in the presence of cAMP, leading to strong cAMP-Epac-induced dynamics in the ternary complex. Spectrum scanning, luminescence, and fluorescence emission studies on glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) cells demonstrated closer proximity between donor and acceptor, ensuring the cAMP sensor’s activity. This sensor detects changes in endogenous cAMP levels, and the observed BRET signal can be enhanced by increasing the concentration of the substrate, coelenterazine. The sensor also efficiently detects the communication between cAMP and EPAC in live GBM cells over time. We used this sensor to assess the activation of GPR17, a potential biomarker for GBM. The activation of MDL 29,951, a GPR17 agonist, supports the sensor’s ability to detect Gi-coupled protein activation. This study also shows the feasibility of sensor readouts using inexpensive instrumentation such as plate readers and image systems. Overall, this study sheds new light on detecting cAMP communication with EPAC and GPR17 ligand-mediated EPAC in GBM cells, potentially aiding the development of precision therapies.
{"title":"Sensing Cyclic Adenosine Monophosphate and Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factor Communication Through Rluc-Epac-Citrine2 BRET Sensor in Live GBM Cells","authors":"Elif Dilek;Vivash Naidoo;Bobin George Abraham;Saravanan Konda Mani;Kasim S. Abass;Sandhanasamy Devanesan;Mohamad S. AlSalhi;Sureka Chandrabose;Olli Yli-Harja;Akshaya Murugesan;Meenakshisundaram Kandhavelu","doi":"10.1109/TMBMC.2025.3565137","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TMBMC.2025.3565137","url":null,"abstract":"Cyclic adenosine 3’,5’-monophosphate (cAMP) is a versatile secondary messenger that communicates with Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factor (EPAC) to transfer cellular signaling and regulates numerous physiological conditions. Early studies focused on measuring this communication is considered as crucial in GPCR ligand-mediated EPAC activation, where bioluminescence resonance energy transfer (BRET) sensor has been widely used to study the cAMP level in living cells. However, a BRET sensor pairing with the best brightness and photostability for detecting low levels of cAMP in single and whole-cell populations has yet to be developed. Here, we constructed a novel BRET-based cAMP biosensor with Rluc-Epac-Citrine2. A molecular communication study revealed a significant change of over 100° in the phi value for the residues Thr253, Val259, and Thr260 in the presence of cAMP, leading to strong cAMP-Epac-induced dynamics in the ternary complex. Spectrum scanning, luminescence, and fluorescence emission studies on glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) cells demonstrated closer proximity between donor and acceptor, ensuring the cAMP sensor’s activity. This sensor detects changes in endogenous cAMP levels, and the observed BRET signal can be enhanced by increasing the concentration of the substrate, coelenterazine. The sensor also efficiently detects the communication between cAMP and EPAC in live GBM cells over time. We used this sensor to assess the activation of GPR17, a potential biomarker for GBM. The activation of MDL 29,951, a GPR17 agonist, supports the sensor’s ability to detect Gi-coupled protein activation. This study also shows the feasibility of sensor readouts using inexpensive instrumentation such as plate readers and image systems. Overall, this study sheds new light on detecting cAMP communication with EPAC and GPR17 ligand-mediated EPAC in GBM cells, potentially aiding the development of precision therapies.","PeriodicalId":36530,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Molecular, Biological, and Multi-Scale Communications","volume":"11 3","pages":"395-404"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-04-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=10980078","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145036804","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-04-21DOI: 10.1109/TMBMC.2025.3562765
Tho Minh Duong;Sungoh Kwon
In this paper, we propose an analysis of the transmission success probability in a Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based molecular communication system. FRET is an energy transmission process between molecules in close proximity without radiation of a photon. Since FRET has low dependency on environmental factors and a relatively wide transmission range, it has become a promising means of propagation in molecular communication. However, the limited availability of current research in the literature hampers comprehensive understanding of FRET capabilities in the context of wireless communication in general and molecular communication specifically. In this paper, we model a FRET-based communication system with relays and analyze its channel characteristics. We derive a theoretical expression for the successful transmission probability of the system under on-off keying modulation and the corresponding system capacity. Our analysis shows that performance of the proposed FRET system is influenced by parameters that include the FRET rate, the intrinsic fluorescence rate, and symbol duration. Furthermore, our analysis maintains a high level of accuracy, regardless of whether the relays share the same FRET rate or possess different FRET rates. Via simulations our analysis is verified in various environments.
{"title":"Channel Characteristics of Multi-Hop FRET-Based Molecular Communication","authors":"Tho Minh Duong;Sungoh Kwon","doi":"10.1109/TMBMC.2025.3562765","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TMBMC.2025.3562765","url":null,"abstract":"In this paper, we propose an analysis of the transmission success probability in a Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET)-based molecular communication system. FRET is an energy transmission process between molecules in close proximity without radiation of a photon. Since FRET has low dependency on environmental factors and a relatively wide transmission range, it has become a promising means of propagation in molecular communication. However, the limited availability of current research in the literature hampers comprehensive understanding of FRET capabilities in the context of wireless communication in general and molecular communication specifically. In this paper, we model a FRET-based communication system with relays and analyze its channel characteristics. We derive a theoretical expression for the successful transmission probability of the system under on-off keying modulation and the corresponding system capacity. Our analysis shows that performance of the proposed FRET system is influenced by parameters that include the FRET rate, the intrinsic fluorescence rate, and symbol duration. Furthermore, our analysis maintains a high level of accuracy, regardless of whether the relays share the same FRET rate or possess different FRET rates. Via simulations our analysis is verified in various environments.","PeriodicalId":36530,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Molecular, Biological, and Multi-Scale Communications","volume":"11 3","pages":"371-383"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145036928","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-04-18DOI: 10.1109/TMBMC.2025.3562353
Caglar Koca;Mustafa Ozger;Oktay Cetinkaya;Ozgur B. Akan
Internet of Things (IoT) translates the physical world into a cyber form using wireless sensors. However, these sensors often lack longevity due to their energy-constrained batteries. This limitation is particularly critical for the Internet of Bio-Nano Things (IoBNT), in which sensors usually operate within an organism with minimum opportunities for replenishment. Thus, adopting energy-efficient strategies is vital to maximize the lifetime of such sensors and ensure the reliable execution of associated applications. To address this, this letter proposes an event-driven, time-adaptive transmission scheme based on the Kullback-Leibler (KL) distance. Specifically, the KL distance is used to measure the worth of transmitting the current sensor reading, enabling the sensor to decide whether to transmit in that sampling period, thereby saving energy and extending its lifetime. Furthermore, we identify the operational regions for sensors, namely safe, unsafe, and action, depending on application-specific parameters. The design and implementation of the required circuitry are also discussed, considering the unique constraints of the IoBNT. Performance evaluation validates that the KL distance improves sensor lifetime with an acceptable information loss.
{"title":"Information-Theoretic Lifetime Maximization for IoBNT-Enabled Sensing","authors":"Caglar Koca;Mustafa Ozger;Oktay Cetinkaya;Ozgur B. Akan","doi":"10.1109/TMBMC.2025.3562353","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TMBMC.2025.3562353","url":null,"abstract":"Internet of Things (IoT) translates the physical world into a cyber form using wireless sensors. However, these sensors often lack longevity due to their energy-constrained batteries. This limitation is particularly critical for the Internet of Bio-Nano Things (IoBNT), in which sensors usually operate within an organism with minimum opportunities for replenishment. Thus, adopting energy-efficient strategies is vital to maximize the lifetime of such sensors and ensure the reliable execution of associated applications. To address this, this letter proposes an event-driven, time-adaptive transmission scheme based on the Kullback-Leibler (KL) distance. Specifically, the KL distance is used to measure the worth of transmitting the current sensor reading, enabling the sensor to decide whether to transmit in that sampling period, thereby saving energy and extending its lifetime. Furthermore, we identify the operational regions for sensors, namely safe, unsafe, and action, depending on application-specific parameters. The design and implementation of the required circuitry are also discussed, considering the unique constraints of the IoBNT. Performance evaluation validates that the KL distance improves sensor lifetime with an acceptable information loss.","PeriodicalId":36530,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Molecular, Biological, and Multi-Scale Communications","volume":"11 3","pages":"462-466"},"PeriodicalIF":2.3,"publicationDate":"2025-04-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145036856","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Evolutionary developmental biology, biomedicine, neuroscience, and many aspects of the social sciences are impacted by insight into forces that facilitate the merging of active subunits into an emergent collective. The dynamics of interaction between agents are often studied in game theory, such as the popular Prisoner’s Dilemma (PD) paradigm, but the impact of these models on higher scales of organization, and their contributions to questions of how agents distinguish borders between themselves and the outside world, are not clear. Here we applied a spatialized, iterated PD model to understand the dynamics of the formation of large-scale tissues (colonies that act as one) out of single cell agents. In particular, we broke a standard assumption of PD: instead of a fixed number of players which can Cooperate or Defect on each round, we let the borders of individuality remain fluid, enabling agents to also Merge or Split. The consequences of enabling agents’ actions to change the number of agents in the world result in non-linear dynamics that are not known in advance: would higher-level (composite) individuals emerge? We characterized changes in collective formation as a function of memory size of the subunits. Our results show that when the number of agents is determined by the agents’ behavior, PD dynamics favor multicellularity, including the emergence of structured cell-groups, eventually leading to one single fully-merged tissue. These larger agents were found to have higher causal emergence than smaller ones. Moreover, we observed different spatial distributions of merged connectivity vs. of similar behavioral propensities, revealing that rich but distinct structures can coexist at the level of physical structure and the space of behavioral propensities. These dynamics raise a number of interesting and deep questions about decision-making in a self-modifying system that transitions from a metabolic to a morphological problem space, and how collective intelligences emerge, scale, and pattern.
{"title":"Extending Iterated, Spatialized Prisoner’s Dilemma to Understand Multicellularity: Game Theory With Self-Scaling Players","authors":"Lakshwin Shreesha;Federico Pigozzi;Adam Goldstein;Michael Levin","doi":"10.1109/TMBMC.2025.3562358","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1109/TMBMC.2025.3562358","url":null,"abstract":"Evolutionary developmental biology, biomedicine, neuroscience, and many aspects of the social sciences are impacted by insight into forces that facilitate the merging of active subunits into an emergent collective. The dynamics of interaction between agents are often studied in game theory, such as the popular Prisoner’s Dilemma (PD) paradigm, but the impact of these models on higher scales of organization, and their contributions to questions of how agents distinguish borders between themselves and the outside world, are not clear. Here we applied a spatialized, iterated PD model to understand the dynamics of the formation of large-scale tissues (colonies that act as one) out of single cell agents. In particular, we broke a standard assumption of PD: instead of a fixed number of players which can Cooperate or Defect on each round, we let the borders of individuality remain fluid, enabling agents to also Merge or Split. The consequences of enabling agents’ actions to change the number of agents in the world result in non-linear dynamics that are not known in advance: would higher-level (composite) individuals emerge? We characterized changes in collective formation as a function of memory size of the subunits. Our results show that when the number of agents is determined by the agents’ behavior, PD dynamics favor multicellularity, including the emergence of structured cell-groups, eventually leading to one single fully-merged tissue. These larger agents were found to have higher causal emergence than smaller ones. Moreover, we observed different spatial distributions of merged connectivity vs. of similar behavioral propensities, revealing that rich but distinct structures can coexist at the level of physical structure and the space of behavioral propensities. These dynamics raise a number of interesting and deep questions about decision-making in a self-modifying system that transitions from a metabolic to a morphological problem space, and how collective intelligences emerge, scale, and pattern.","PeriodicalId":36530,"journal":{"name":"IEEE Transactions on Molecular, Biological, and Multi-Scale Communications","volume":"11 2","pages":"135-151"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2025-04-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=10970107","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144272882","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
扫码关注我们
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：