Collective biological computation of metabolic economy

Abstract

Presented with sensory challenges, living cells employ extensive noisy, fluctuating signalling and communication among themselves to compute a physiologically proper response which often results in symmetry breaking. We propose, based on the results of a coupled stochastics oscillators model that biological computation mechanism undertaken by insulin secreting beta-cells consists of a combination of dual intracellular Ca$^{2+}$ release processes to ensure multilayered exploration contributing to enhanced robustness and sensitivity. The computational output is what is macroscopically observed as disorder-order phase transition in collective beta-cell response to nutrient concentration increase. Based on the analogies from previoulsy described examples of biological computation, we argue that the initial response may be followed by an adaptive phase to expand the sensory spectrum and consolidate memory.