Royal Society Open Science (Jan 2018)

Genetics of a de novo origin of undifferentiated multicellularity

  • Matthew D. Herron,
  • William C. Ratcliff,
  • Jacob Boswell,
  • Frank Rosenzweig

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.180912
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 5, no. 8

Abstract

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The evolution of multicellularity was a major transition in evolution and set the stage for unprecedented increases in complexity, especially in land plants and animals. Here, we explore the genetics underlying a de novo origin of multicellularity in a microbial evolution experiment carried out on the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. We show that large-scale changes in gene expression underlie the transition to a multicellular life cycle. Among these, changes to genes involved in cell cycle and reproductive processes were overrepresented, as were changes to C. reinhardtii-specific and volvocine-specific genes. These results suggest that the genetic basis for the experimental evolution of multicellularity in C. reinhardtii has both lineage-specific and shared features, and that the shared features have more in common with C. reinhardtii's relatives among the volvocine algae than with other multicellular green algae or land plants.

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