Multicellular Life Evolves in Laboratory

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Multicellular Life Evolves in Laboratory · 2

mk · 4700 days ago

According to Travisano, too much emphasis was placed on identifying some genetic essence of complexity. The new study suggests that environmental conditions are paramount: Give single-celled organisms reason to go multicellular, and they will.

Go open access!

http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/01/10/1115323109.full...

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crackedmonocle · 4699 days ago · link ·

There has been some skepticism regarding this study, here is the lead author's response. I hold my own reservations but I am excited to see where they go from here.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/loom/2012/01/18/evolving-b...

+discuss+discuss

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mk · 4699 days ago · link ·

Thanks for that. The response doesn't seem to dodge any points raised.

Since evolution is the reproduction of a new genotype instead of a previous one, I don't doubt that the selection pressure they applied couldn't select for multicellularity.

Also interesting, the author points out:

If we select for more rapid settling, snowflake yeast evolve to delay reproduction until the parent is larger, allowing it settle more quickly. We see the evolution of higher rates of apoptosis as a way to regulate the size and number of propagules produced.

That's pretty nice.

IMHO, people tend to think that evolution is more magical than it is. If you've got a quickly reproducing organism with some genetic variation occuring, and you can apply consistent pressures, you should see selection for genotypes occur. It's just cool that they apparently could select for multicellularity.