The Slime Mold Dictyostelium as a Model of Self-Organization in Social Systems

Abstract

The phenomenon of aggregation in the cellular slime mold Dictyosteliumhas been studied intensely, both as a model for the self-organization of single cells into multicellular organisms and as a source of information about the extracellular function of the chemical messenger, cyclic AMP. There are two basic classes of models: models of individual cells in discrete sets and field theoretic (continuum) models of aggregation. These two kinds of model are designed to answer somewhat different questions, but any explanation of the nature and form of aggregation requires the field approach. An examination of the forms occurring during slime mold aggregation provides important clues to the dynamics of the process and indicates the importance of symmetry breaking and entrainment in self-organization. Analogies are proposed between slime mold aggregation and human social processes. —The Editor