Fig 1.
Synthetic route for preparing protenoid microspheres.
The synthesis of proteinoid microspheres consists of five steps. A) Heat the amino acids until they reach their boiling points. B) Dissolve the mixture in water at a temperature of 80 degrees Celsius and mix thoroughly. C) Perform lyophilisation to remove any excess water. D) Collect the samples for further analysis. E) Characterise the samples using FT-IR and SEM techniques. The arrows in the diagram indicate the direction and order of the steps. Additionally, they are labelled with α, β, γ, δ, and ϵ, which correspond to the reactions or transformations involved in each step. The figure was created using the tikzpicture environment in LaTeX.
Fig 2.
Controlling protenoid current signals for logic gating applications.
One potential approach for generating logical gates from proteinoid microspheres involves the utilisation of chronoamperometry. The figure displays two types of proteinoids, labelled as A and B, which exhibit distinct spiking frequencies and amplitudes in response to different potentials, specifically positive and negative potentials. We can achieve different logic operations by adjusting the spiking frequency and amplitude of the proteinoids through changes in the potential and electrolyte concentration. This allows us to obtain distinct current responses. This figure illustrates the implementation of an OR gate using type B proteinoids, a negative potential, and a high electrolyte concentration. The output signal will be determined by the current response of type B proteinoids.
Fig 3.
Measuring protenoid microsphere current responses with applied potential.
A scheme of the experimental setup. An ensemble of proteinoid microspheres with four electrodes, depicted schematically. A voltage source is linked to electrodes A and B, while an Anapot EIS potentiostat is linked to electrodes C and D. The potentiostat detects and records electrical spikes induced in the microsphere by the voltage source.
Fig 4.
Characterizing protenoid electroactivity using a ZP potentiostat.
The ZP potentiostat was used to obtain chronoamperometry measurements for all the proteinoids, as depicted in the figure. The device uses a steady direct current potential (E dc) while the current is monitored at regular intervals. To determine the concentration of a particular analyte in the sample, the obtained current is divided by a calibration factor [23].
Fig 5.
Contrast, correlation, energy, and homogeneity metrics for protenoid edge detection.
After conducting an analysis on the edge detection of proteinoid nanospheres using Matlab, the results showed a contrast value of 0.1708, a correlation value of 0.9582, an energy value of 0.1410, and a homogeneity value of 0.9170.
Fig 6.
Gamma correction for enhancing SEM imaging of protenoid nanoparticles.
The Impact of Gamma Correction on SEM Images of Proteinoid Nanoparticles. This is the original image of proteinoid nanoparticles captured using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) at 2 kV and 60,000x magnification. The negative image is created by inverting the grayscale values of the original image. The gamma-corrected images were obtained by applying different gamma values (0.5, 1.5, and 2.5) to the original image. Gamma correction is a technique used to adjust the brightness and contrast of an image by modifying its tonal range. The scale bar on the image corresponds to a length of 423 nanometers.
Fig 7.
Quantifying protenoid nanosphere size distribution.
The histogram depicts the frequency of proteinoid nanospheres with varying diameters, with μ= 13.9253 and σ = 23.7247 representing a normal fit.
Table 1.
Summary statistics of current in A for each proteinoid.
Fig 8.
Visualizing protenoid current distribution characteristics with boxplots.
The current values for each proteinoid are distributed. The boxplots display the median, interquartile range, and outliers of the current values for each proteinoids. The proteinoids names are displayed on the x-axis, while the current in amperes is shown on the y-axis. The figure depicts the skewness and kurtosis of the current values for each proteinoid.
Fig 9.
Distinct current signatures of varied protenoid structures.
The figure displays the current values of 12 distinct proteinoids, which are responsible for the formation of proteinoid microspheres. The current values were measured using chronoamperometry in order to observe the response to external stimuli. Each protein is represented on the same graph using a distinct colour and marker. The x-axis represents time in seconds, while the y-axis represents current in amperes.
Fig 10.
Analysing chronoamperometry data to determine logical gates.
The figure displays the output of four distinct logical gates (AND, OR, XOR, and NAND) derived from the chronoamperometry data of 12 proteinoids. The output is a binary vector that indicates whether the logical condition is satisfied or not for each time point. The logical gates were constructed by using the average values of the current for each proteinoid as the threshold values. These threshold values were then used to determine whether each proteinoid was present or absent in the sample. Next, the binary matrix was subjected to logical operations such as AND, OR, XOR, and NAND in order to obtain the output of each gate. The output of each gate is displayed on a 2 by 2 grid of subplots, with each gate represented by a different colour. The AND gate is plotted in red, the OR gate in green, the XOR gate in blue, and the NAND gate in yellow. The x-axis represents time in seconds, while the y-axis represents the output, which can be either 0 or 1.
Table 2.
Truth table for the AND gate from proteinoid reactions.
Table 3.
Truth table for the OR gate from proteinoid reactions.
Table 4.
Truth table for the XOR gate from proteinoid reactions.
Table 5.
Truth table for the NAND gate from proteinoid reactions.
Fig 11.
Proposed apparatus to evaluate manning’s hypothesis on protenoid signaling.
One potential experimental setup for testing Manning’s 1978 theory with proteinoid solutions involves the use of chronoamperometry. The diagram illustrates an electrochemical cell comprising three electrodes: a working electrode (W), a reference electrode (R), and a counter electrode (CE). The cell contains an electrolyte solution and is connected to a potentiostat. The potentiostat applies a constant potential to the electrodes and measures the current response of the proteinoids present in the solution. The potentiostat is connected to a computer, which is responsible for recording and analysing the data. The syringe pump is used to inject a small quantity of proteinoid solution into the cell in close proximity to the working electrode. The pH metre and conductivity metre are used to measure the pH and conductivity of the proteinoid solution. The purpose of a microscope is to observe the morphology and size of proteinoid microspheres.
Table 6.
Proteinoid microspheres, actin filaments, and polynucleotides in bioinspired computing.
The table shows biomolecule features and functions that can be used to create unique computing devices that mimic biological systems.