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Microtubules viewed as molecular ant colonies
Author(s) -
Tabony James
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
biology of the cell
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.543
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1768-322X
pISSN - 0248-4900
DOI - 10.1042/bc20050087
Subject(s) - biology , microtubule , stigmergy , ant , sex pheromone , ant colony , process (computing) , ecology , microbiology and biotechnology , zoology , computer science , artificial intelligence , ant colony optimization algorithms , operating system
Populations of ants and other social insects self‐organize and develop ‘emergent’ properties through stigmergy in which individual ants communicate with one another via chemical trails of pheromones that attract or repulse other ants. In this way, sophisticated properties and functions develop. Under appropriate conditions, in vitro microtubule preparations, initially comprised of only tubulin and GTP, behave in a similar manner. They self‐organize and develop other higher‐level emergent phenomena by a process where individual microtubules are coupled together by the chemical trails they produce by their own reactive growing and shrinking. This behaviour is described and compared with the behaviour of ant colonies. Viewing microtubules as populations of molecular ants may provide new insights as to how the cytoskeleton may spontaneously develop high‐level functions. It is plausible that such processes occur during the early stages of embryogenesis and in cells.