Group Formation, Relatedness, and the Evolution of Multicellularity

Fisher, Roberta M.; Cornwallis, Charlie K.; West, Stuart A.

doi:10.1016/j.cub.2013.05.004

Cited by 155 publications

(215 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…5). The within-species transitions to multicellularity and eusociality have occurred only when (i) the social group passes through a single propagule phase (cell or singly mated female) or (ii) the social group forms by offspring staying to help their parent (subsociality) (35)(36)(37)40). We suggest that transitions between species may involve similarly restrictive conditions, such as vertical transmission of clonal symbionts.…”

Section: Pragmatismmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…One way to remove this conflict would be if the potential helper is equally related to the offspring that it could help raise and its own offspring (r h = r o ) (33,(35)(36)(37). In this case, the different offspring are worth equal value to the potential helper, and they are selected to do whatever leads to .…”

Section: What Conditions Lead To Negligible Conflict Within Groups?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…5) (1, 35-37). The major transition to obligate multicellularity has taken place only in species where daughter cells stick together after division and so group formation is clonal, such as the animals, fungi, red algae, green plants, volvocine algae, brown algae, some ciliates, and some cyanobacteria (37,38). Although nonclonal group formation occurs via aggregation in many species, such as the cellular slime molds, ciliates, and acrasid slime molds, and can lead to very high relatedness (39), it has led only to facultative multicellularity.…”

Section: What Conditions Lead To Negligible Conflict Within Groups?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Cooperation *Highly integrated/obligate symbioses, where the hosts cannot survive without their symbionts, and there seems to be a relative lack of conflict, such that the symbionts can best increase their own fitness by helping their hosts reproduce (45). † Facultatively multicellular species, which can remain in their unicellular state for many generations, without the need to form a multicellular fruiting body, which they do only under certain harsh conditions to increase dispersal success (no mutual dependence) (37). Sufficient conflict to select for noncooperative cheats, and within-group kin discrimination (68,69).…”

Section: What Conditions Favor Cooperation?mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Major evolutionary transitions in individuality

West

Fisher

Gardner

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

300

412

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The evolution of life on earth has been driven by a small number of major evolutionary transitions. These transitions have been characterized by individuals that could previously replicate independently, cooperating to form a new, more complex life form. For example, archaea and eubacteria formed eukaryotic cells, and cells formed multicellular organisms. However, not all cooperative groups are en route to major transitions. How can we explain why major evolutionary transitions have or haven't taken place on different branches of the tree of life? We break down major transitions into two steps: the formation of a cooperative group and the transformation of that group into an integrated entity. We show how these steps require cooperation, division of labor, communication, mutual dependence, and negligible within-group conflict. We find that certain ecological conditions and the ways in which groups form have played recurrent roles in driving multiple transitions. In contrast, we find that other factors have played relatively minor roles at many key points, such as within-group kin discrimination and mechanisms to actively repress competition. More generally, by identifying the small number of factors that have driven major transitions, we provide a simpler and more unified description of how life on earth has evolved.T he evolution of life, from simple organic compounds in a primordial soup to the amazing diversity of contemporary organisms, has taken roughly 3.5 billion years. How can we explain the evolution of increasingly complex organisms over this period? A traditional approach has been to consider the succession of taxonomic groups, such as the age of fishes giving rise to the age of amphibians, which gave way to the age of reptiles, and so on. Although this approach has some uses, it is biased toward relatively large plants and animals and lacks a conceptual or predictive framework, in that it suggests we look for different explanations for each succession (1).Twenty years ago, Maynard Smith and Szathmáry (2) revolutionized our understanding of life on earth by showing how the key steps in the evolution of life on earth had been driven by a small number of "major evolutionary transitions." In each transition, a group of individuals that could previously replicate independently cooperate to form a new, more complex life form. For example, genes cooperated to form genomes, archaea and eubacteria formed eukaryotic cells, and cells cooperated to form multicellular organisms (Table 1).The major transitions approach provides a conceptual framework that facilitates comparison across pivotal moments in the history of life (2, 3). It suggests that the same problem arises at each transition: How are the potentially selfish interests of individuals overcome to form mutually dependent cooperative groups? We can then ask whether there are any similarities across transitions in the answers to this problem. Consequently, rather than looking for different explanations for the succession of different taxonomic groups, we ...

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Section: Pragmatismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: What Conditions Lead To Negligible Conflict Within Groups?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: What Conditions Lead To Negligible Conflict Within Groups?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: What Conditions Favor Cooperation?mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Major evolutionary transitions in individuality

West

Fisher

Gardner

et al. 2015

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

300

412

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For example, in single-celled organisms, we can compare non-clonal cooperative groups of things like slime moulds with clonal groups such as those that make up multicellular organisms such as humans and trees. These non-clonal groups have evolved only relatively limited division of labour, and never complex multicellular organisms (Fisher et al 2013). Numerous experimental studies have shown that this is because in non-clonal groups non-cooperative 'cheats' can spread, limiting the extent of cooperation (Griffin et al 2004;Diggle et al 2007;Kuzdzal-Fick et al 2011;Rumbaugh et al 2012;Pollitt et al 2014;Popat et al 2015;Inglis et al 2017).…”

Section: What Conditions Drive Major Transitions?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Darwin's aliens

Levin

Scott

Cooper³

et al. 2017

International Journal of Astrobiology

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Making predictions about aliens is not an easy task. Most previous work has focused on extrapolating from empirical observations and mechanistic understanding of physics, chemistry and biology. Another approach is to utilize theory to make predictions that are not tied to details of Earth. Here we show how evolutionary theory can be used to make predictions about aliens. We argue that aliens will undergo natural selection -something that should not be taken for granted but that rests on firm theoretical grounds. Given aliens undergo natural selection we can say something about their evolution. In particular, we can say something about how complexity will arise in space. Complexity has increased on the Earth as a result of a handful of events, known as the major transitions in individuality. Major transitions occur when groups of individuals come together to form a new higher level of the individual, such as when single-celled organisms evolved into multicellular organisms. Both theory and empirical data suggest that extreme conditions are required for major transitions to occur. We suggest that major transitions are likely to be the route to complexity on other planets, and that we should expect them to have been favoured by similarly restrictive conditions. Thus, we can make specific predictions about the biological makeup of complex aliens.

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The Many Shapes of Microbial Detection of Kin and Kind

Paz-y-Miño-C

Espinosa

2021

The Explosion of Life Forms

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Group Formation, Relatedness, and the Evolution of Multicellularity

Cited by 155 publications

References 32 publications

Major evolutionary transitions in individuality

Major evolutionary transitions in individuality

Darwin's aliens

The Many Shapes of Microbial Detection of Kin and Kind

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