Slime-mould cells with a weak clockwise turning preference formed centimetre-scale spirals in peer-reviewed experiments. Modelling identifies local alignment and a continuing supply of cells alongside that individual bias as ingredients of the rotating pattern. The work examines collective motion in an open living system, with quantitative differences remaining between simulations and experiments.
Slime-mould cells with a weak clockwise preference formed centimetre-scale, multi-armed spirals in a peer-reviewed study published on 26 October. The experiments and modelling examine how a small directional bias in individual cells becomes a larger collective pattern when more cells keep entering the system. The result concerns living active matter exchanging material with its surroundings, rather than a closed group with a fixed population.[1], [2]
The organism is Dictyostelium discoideum, a slime mould used to study collective cell behaviour. Cells lacking chemical navigation formed a dense ring before a clockwise rotating core and spiral arms emerged. Dense bands travelled outward, with less organized movement between them. Tracking individual cells and small groups revealed a slight clockwise bias, while analysis of pairwise encounters showed that cells tend to align their migration directions.[1]
Moving-particle models reproduced rotating cores and spiral arms when intrinsic turning bias, local alignment and continued cell supply acted together. Reducing the supply rate over time helped account for changing arm geometry. Direct measurement of that supply is difficult near the dense experimental source, and the turning strengths in models and experiments do not match exactly. The study explores collective cell motion; possible links to developmental left–right asymmetry remain conceptual rather than tests of human organ formation.[1]
