| The social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum has a typical eukaryotic life cycle, But when starved, a social cycle begins. In this cycle the amoebae start to signal among themselves using a chemical signal in order to form an aggregate of thousands of amoebae. This aggregate will then give origin to a multi-cellular slug, which will migrate to a more hospitable location. To simulate several of the properties in this system I have adapted the boids model proposed by Vicsek (originally proposed to reproduce animal flocking behavior, but also successfully adapted to reproduce cellular systems). Among other amoeba properties my model reproduced, I'll display a rotational symmetry breaking as the boids transition to a collective rotational state upon confinement, both in two and three dimensions. Analyses of the phase transition and effects of the different confinement's types, shapes and proportions will also be shown. |
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