Experimental evolution of multicellularity
Open accessAbstract
Multicellularity was one of the most significant innovations in the history of life, but its initial evolution remains poorly understood. Using experimental evolution, we show that key steps in this transition could have occurred quickly. We subjected the unicellular yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae to an environment in which we expected multicellularity to be adaptive. We observed the rapid evolution of clustering genotypes that display a novel multicellular life history characterized by reproduction via multicellular propagules, a juvenile phase, and determinate growth. The multicellular clusters are uniclonal, minimizing within-cluster genetic conflicts of interest. Simple among-cell division of labor rapidly evolved. Early multicellular strains were composed of physiologically similar cells, but these subsequently evolved higher rates of programmed cell death (apoptosis), an adaptation that increases propagule production. These results show that key aspects of multicellular complexity, a subject of central importance to biology, can readily evolve from unicellular eukaryotes.
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Laboratory experiments and engineered multicellular systems suggest that simple MC10 is relatively easy to obtain.
“Laboratory experiments [178,179] and engineered multicellular systems [180,181] suggest that simple MC10 is relatively easy to obtain.”
From Fundamental constraints to the logic of living systems (2024) · cites this paper as [178]
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“Laboratory experiments [178,179] and engineered multicellular systems [180,181] suggest that simple MC 10 is relatively easy to obtain.”
BackgroundThe road to synthetic multicellularity
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Experimental macroevolution<sup/>
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- Authors
- Ratcliff, W. C., Denison, R. F., Borrello, M., & Travisano, M.
- Affiliations
- University of Minnesota (US)
- Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior and
- Venue
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
- Publisher
- National Academy of Sciences
- Published
- 2012-01-17
- Volume
- 109
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 1595-1600
- ISSN
- 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
- 1091-6490
- PMC
- PMC3277146
- OpenAlex
- W2112743201
- Cited by
- 570
- References
- 43
- Citations by year
- 2026: 31 · 2025: 39 · 2024: 63 · 2023: 38 · 2022: 51 · 2021: 46 · 2020: 35 · 2019: 42 · 2018: 38 · 2017: 34 · 2016: 39 · 2015: 31 · 2014: 31 · 2013: 30 · 2012: 19
- FWCI
- 21.33
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (0918897, 1051115)
- University of Minnesota
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Genetics › Evolution and Genetic Dynamics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Evolutionary Game Theory and Cooperation
- Social Sciences › Cultural Studies › Language and cultural evolution
- Keywords
- multicellularity, experimental evolution, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, yeast, division of labor, programmed cell death, apoptosis, genetic conflict, life history evolution, determinate growth, juvenile stages
- MeSH terms
- Biological Evolution, Genes, Fungal, Genotype, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Apoptosis
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