Anti-jamming in a fungal transport network

TL;DR

This paper investigates how fungal hyphal networks, specifically Neurospora crassa, naturally avoid congestion by using self-organized solitons, enabling efficient transport of nuclei along hyphal highways.

Contribution

It reveals that fungal networks exhibit anti-jamming behavior with nuclei forming solitons, a novel biological transport mechanism not previously described.

Findings

Nuclei flow faster in denser hyphal regions.

Transported nuclei self-organize into solitons.

Fungal networks demonstrate anti-congestion behavior.

Abstract

Congestion limits the efficiency of transport networks ranging from highways to the internet. Fungal hyphal networks are studied as an examples of optimal biological transport networks, but the scheduling and direction of traffic to avoid congestion has not been examined. We show here that the Neurospora crassa fungal network exhibits anticongestion: more densely packed nuclei flow faster along hyphal highways, and transported nuclei self-organize into fast flowing solitons. Concentrated transport by solitons may allow cells to cycle between growing and acting as transport conduits.