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From P systems to morphogenetic systems: an overview and open problems

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Abstract

Morphogenetic (M) systems are an abstract model of computation inspired by morphogenetic processes in living cells and organisms. They were created as a generalization of P systems with proteins on membranes. Abstract cells are not used as atomic elements but they can be assembled from simpler primitives called tiles with pre-defined shapes, sizes and changeable positions in 2D or 3D Euclidean space. This additional level of realism provides a closer relation to fields as synthetic or systems biology. We summarize known results on M systems which include studies of computational universality, computational efficiency in solving intractable problems, and we discuss their relation to other models of P systems. An important capability of M systems is their robustness under injuries and their self-healing properties which has been established theoretically and verified experimentally. Finally, we present results of computational experiments inspired by cell mitosis processes. All topics are accompanied with related open problems.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports Of the Czech Republic from the National Programme of Sustainability (NPU II) project IT4Innovations Excellence in Science-LQ1602, and by the Silesian University in Opava under the Student Funding Scheme, project SGS/11/2019.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Institute of the IT4Innovations Centre of Excellence, Silesian University in Opava, Opava, Czech Republic

    Petr Sosík, Jan Drastík & Vladimír Smolka

  2. Computer Science, The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN, USA

    Max Garzon

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  1. Petr Sosík
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  2. Jan Drastík
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Correspondence to Petr Sosík.

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Sosík, P., Drastík, J., Smolka, V. et al. From P systems to morphogenetic systems: an overview and open problems. J Membr Comput 2, 380–391 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41965-020-00057-9

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