Light induced spiking of proteinoids

Mougkogiannis, Panagiotis; Adamatzky, Andrew

Abstract

Proteinoids, or thermal proteins, are produced by heating amino acids to their melting point and initiating polymerisation to produce polymeric chains. In aqueous solutions proteinoids swell into hollow microspheres. These microspheres produce endogenous burst of electrical potential spikes and change patterns of their electrical activity in response to illumination. We report results on a detailed investigation on the effects of white cold light on the spiking of proteinoids. We study how different types and intensities of light determine proteinoids’ spiking amplitude, period, and pattern. The results of this study will be utilised to evaluate proteinoids for their potential as optical sensors and their application in unconventional computing.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 26, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Aug 30, 2023
• Publication Date: Oct 31, 2023
• Deposit Date: Aug 31, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Sep 20, 2023
• Journal: BioSystems
• Print ISSN: 0303-2647
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 232
• Article Number: 105015
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biosystems.2023.105015
• Keywords: Microspheres, Light, Thermal proteins, Unconventional computing, Proteinoids, Polymerization, Amino Acids
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/11069373
• Publisher URL: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0303264723001909
• Additional Information: This article is maintained by: Elsevier; Article Title: Light induced spiking of proteinoids; Journal Title: Biosystems; CrossRef DOI link to publisher maintained version: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biosystems.2023.105015; Content Type: article; Copyright: Crown Copyright © 2023 Published by Elsevier B.V.