Volume 10, Number 1, 3-16, DOI: 10.1007/s11047-010-9187-z

Spatial P systems

Roberto Barbuti, Andrea Maggiolo-Schettini, Paolo Milazzo, Giovanni Pardini and Luca Tesei

From the issue entitled "Part I: Special Issue "Modelling Bioprocesses" "Dedicated to Prof.V.Manca on the Occasion of his 60th Birthday" Part II: Special Issue "Interaction between Biology and Computation" Part III: Special Issue "DNA Computing and Molecular Programming" "Selected Papers from the 15th International Conference on DNA Computing and Molecular Programming""

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Abstract

We present Spatial P systems, a variant of P systems which embodies the concept of space and position inside a membrane. Objects in membranes are associated with positions. Rules specify, in the usual way, the objects which are consumed and the ones which are produced; in addition, they can specify the positions of the produced objects. Objects belong to two different sets: the set of ordinary objects and the set of mutually exclusive objects. Every position inside a membrane can accommodate an arbitrary number of ordinary objects, but at most one mutually exclusive object. We prove that Spatial P systems are universal even if only non-cooperating rules are allowed. We also show how Spatial P systems can be used to model the evolution of populations in presence of geographical separations.

Keywords  Membrane computing – P systems – Spatial modeling – Universality

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