DRAMA - a cybernetic approach for Plankton Digital Twins

A flexible platform for the description of plankton functional types is described that uses a combination of systems biology concepts enacted through the system dynamics modelling of cybernetic (feedback) interactions. The conceptual framework, dynamic resource acquisition modulated activity (DRAMA), provides for a homeostatic description of physiology and behaviour in which cascades of (de)repression processes related to resource availability and satiation are used to control activity and growth of the organism being modelled. A key feature is the use of a metabolite pool to define the level of satiation. Sigmoidal-shaped (allosteric-like) response curves are used to modulate multi-stress interactions controlling consumption of different resources and thence controlling growth. Other aspects of behaviour can be similarly controlled. The approach is particularly appropriate for plankton digital twin applications, which demand models that can be configured to align with activities of different species and groups for considerations of ecology with biodiversity. This is because of the ease with which a single structure can be modified and developed to better conform with subtleties between real organisms; this enhances the ability to simulate the ecophysiology of members of each different group.