Regensburg 2019 – scientific programme

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BP: Fachverband Biologische Physik

BP 6: Poster I

BP 6.3: Poster

Monday, April 1, 2019, 17:30–19:30, Poster B2

The Role of Loops in Transport Networks — •Leonie Bastin, Mirna Kramar, and Karen Alim — Max Planck Institute for Dynamics and Self-Organization, Göttingen, Germany

Transport networks play an important role in living organisms and man-made structures. Treelike networks are found to be the most efficient transport networks. However, in biology, many networks grow into loop containing structures. It is still an open question, why loops are favored by some organisms. We investigate the effect of loops on the transport efficiency in a network, using the model organism Physarum polycephalum, which grows as a highly interconnected tubular network. Selforganized contractions drive the fluid flow in these networks. For our studies, we developed a method to incorporate fluorescent beads into P. polycephalum’s streaming cytoplasm and use particle tracking for flow visualization. We prepare both treelike and loop-containing networks and compare measured flow velocities. Our findings suggest that loops increase the transport homogeneity in P. polycephalum. In contrast, the foraging fronts of the organism lead to hierarchically organized networks.