Nature Communications (Jun 2017)

Synergistic cooperation promotes multicellular performance and unicellular free-rider persistence

  • William W Driscoll,
  • Michael Travisano

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms15707
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 8, no. 1
pp. 1 – 10

Abstract

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Multicellularity can arise by cells aggregating or remaining connected after cell division. Here, Driscoll and Travisano show that both mechanisms operate in experimentally evolved strains of the yeastKluyveromyces lactis, with transient aggregation facilitating the coexistence of unicellular and multicellular genotypes.