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Quorum_Sensing

by Luís César da Costa , Marcelo Trindade dos Santos and Gilson Antônio Giraldi (Submitted: 03/10/2008)

Run Quorum_Sensing in your browser uses NetLogo 4.0.2 requires Java 1.4.1+ (system requirements) Download Quorum_Sensing If clicking does not initiate a download, try right clicking or control clicking and choosing "Save" or "Download". Note: If you have trouble running the model in your browser, you may wish to download the application instead.

WHAT IS IT?

The discovery that bacteria are able to communicate with each other
changed our general perception of many single, simple organisms
inhabiting our world. Instead of language, bacteria use signalling
molecules which are released into the environment. As well as
releasing the signalling molecules, bacteria are also able to
measure the number (concentration) of the molecules within a
population. Nowadays we use the term 'Quorum Sensing' (QS) to
describe the phenomenon whereby the accumulation of signalling
molecules enables a single cell to sense the number of bacteria
(cell density). In natural environments, there are many types of
bacteria with a variety of signalling molecules. As they employ
different languages they cannot necessarily talk to all other
bacteria. Presenting the model of cellular automata proposed to
describe the main mechanisms of Quorum Sensing where Vibrio
fischeri, and its model using the concept of Multi-Agents System.

HOW TO USE IT

The basic controls for the model are:
SETUP - Creating the environment and distribution of Vibrio Fisheri
GO - Run the model
SLIDERS - Parameters of the experiment
CHOOSER - Mode Display
SWITCH - Selecting a seed

EXTENDING THE MODEL

Show potential of modeling multi-agents in models that are repeated in biology.

CREDITS AND REFERENCES

J. Liu. Autonomous agents and multi-agent systems: explorations in learning, self- organization and adaptive computation. World Scienti�c, 2001.

E. Greenberg. Quorum sensing in gram-negative bacteria. ASM News, 63:371–377, 1997.

P. C. Chen. A computational model of a class of gene networks with positive and negative controls. Technical report, Faculty of Engineering - National University of Singapore, www.elsevier.com/locate/biosystems, 2003.

To refer to this model in academic publications, please use: Wilensky, U. (1998). NetLogo Voting model. http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/models/Voting. Center for Connected Learning and Computer-Based Modeling, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL.

In other publications, please use: Copyright 1998 Uri Wilensky. All rights reserved. See http://ccl.northwestern.edu/netlogo/models/Voting for terms of use.