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Multicellular Life Cycles as an Emergent Property in Filamentous Bacteria

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Evolutionary Transitions to Multicellular Life

Part of the book series: Advances in Marine Genomics ((AMGE,volume 2))

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Abstract

Multicellularity is an integral part of all organisms that grow to be larger than microscopic scales and is a necessity for complex morphologies. Hence, a central question is: what are the conditions that can lead to the evolution of multicellular development? Here, we outline a theoretical framework that serves as basis to understand the interactions that can lead to the evolution of multicellular life cycles in simple filamentous organisms. By assuming the prior evolution and existence of filamentous multicellularity, and not considering a priori selective advantages, we explore the extent to which intrinsic processes such as cellular birth and death rates can drive the development of such multicellular organisms. The chapter offers an overview of our mathematical setup and of the validation experiments in natural populations of filamentous bacteria. These studies show the presence of a common pattern in terms of filament growth, which provides a hypothesis for the emergence of primitive multicellular life cycles in simple organisms.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Valentina Rossetti & Homayoun C. Bagheri

  2. Anthropological Institute and Museum, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

    Valentina Rossetti

Authors
  1. Valentina Rossetti
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  2. Homayoun C. Bagheri
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Valentina Rossetti .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (UPF-CSIC), Barcelona, Spain

    Iñaki Ruiz-Trillo

  2. Department of Biology, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada

    Aurora M. Nedelcu

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Rossetti, V., Bagheri, H. (2015). Multicellular Life Cycles as an Emergent Property in Filamentous Bacteria. In: Ruiz-Trillo, I., Nedelcu, A. (eds) Evolutionary Transitions to Multicellular Life. Advances in Marine Genomics, vol 2. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9642-2_10

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