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Model of traveling waves in a coral nerve network

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Abstract

Coral polyps contract when electrically stimulated and a wave of contraction travels from the site of stimulation at a constant speed. Models of coral nerve networks were optimized to match one of three different experimentally observed behaviors. To search for model parameters that reproduce the experimental observations, we applied genetic algorithms to increasingly more complex models of a coral nerve net. In a first stage of optimization, individual neurons responded with spikes to multiple, but not single pulses of activation. In a second stage, we used these neurons as the starting point for the optimization of a two-dimensional nerve net. This strategy yielded a network with parameters that reproduced the experimentally observed spread of excitation.

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Notes

  1. In the same sense, the terminology used here, such as “genome” for the parameters to be optimized and “generation” for a round of optimization do not reflect a claims about modeling biological evolution but merely follow GA terminology.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful Dr. Steven H. Bullock for granting us access to his late father’s research films and records. This work was supported by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

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Correspondence to Terrence J. Sejnowski.

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Theodore H. Bullock: deceased

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Chen, E., Stiefel, K.M., Sejnowski, T.J. et al. Model of traveling waves in a coral nerve network. J Comp Physiol A 194, 195–200 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-007-0305-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-007-0305-z

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