4.8 Article

The evolution of convex trade-offs enables the transition towards multicellularity

期刊

NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
卷 12, 期 1, 页码 -

出版社

NATURE PORTFOLIO
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-24503-z

关键词

-

资金

  1. German Research Foundation (DFG) [BE 4135/4-1, BE 4135/4-2]
  2. Max Planck Society

向作者/读者索取更多资源

This study demonstrated that exposing unicellular green algae to a rotifer predator for just 500 generations was enough to lead to a convex trade-off between body cells and germ cells, incorporating the evolved changes into the prey genome. The evolution of cell groups was confirmed to be heritable, characterized by a convex trade-off curve between reproduction and survival, with identical mutations evolving in all cell group isolates. This research sheds light on the poorly understood major evolutionary transition towards multicellularity at the ecological and genetic level.
The evolutionary transition towards multicellular life often involves growth in groups of undifferentiated cells followed by differentiation into soma and germ-like cells. Theory predicts that germ soma differentiation is facilitated by a convex trade-off between survival and reproduction. However, this has never been tested and these transitions remain poorly understood at the ecological and genetic level. Here, we study the evolution of cell groups in ten isogenic lines of the unicellular green algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii with prolonged exposure to a rotifer predator. We confirm that growth in cell groups is heritable and characterized by a convex trade-off curve between reproduction and survival. Identical mutations evolve in all cell group isolates; these are linked to survival and reducing associated cell costs. Overall, we show that just 500 generations of predator selection were sufficient to lead to a convex trade-off and incorporate evolved changes into the prey genome. Multicellularity is a major evolutionary transition that remains poorly characterized at the ecological and genetic level. Exposing unicellular green algae to a rotifer predator showed that just 500 generations of predator selection were sufficient to lead to a convex trade-off and incorporate evolved changes into the prey genome.

作者

我是这篇论文的作者
点击您的名字以认领此论文并将其添加到您的个人资料中。

评论

主要评分

4.8
评分不足

次要评分

新颖性
-
重要性
-
科学严谨性
-
评价这篇论文

推荐

暂无数据
暂无数据