Multicellularity has evolved many times. A new study explores why some forms of multicellularity may be better than others.
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| http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2020.08.056 | DOI Listing |
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Connections between the mechanical properties of DNA and biological functions have been speculative due to the lack of methods to measure or predict DNA mechanics at scale. Recently, a proxy for DNA mechanics, cyclizability, was measured by loop-seq and enabled genome-scale investigation of DNA mechanics. Here, we use this dataset to build a computational model predicting bias-corrected intrinsic cyclizability, with near-perfect accuracy, solely based on DNA sequence.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMulticellular organisms host a rich assemblage of associated microorganisms, collectively known as their "microbiomes". Microbiomes have the capacity to influence their hosts' fitnesses, but the conditions under which such influences contribute to evolution are not clear. This is due in part to a lack of a comprehensive theoretical framework for describing the combined effects of host and associated microbes on phenotypic variation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOpen problems in synthetic multicellularity.
NPJ Syst Biol Appl
December 2024
Allen Discovery Center, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA.
Multicellularity is one of the major evolutionary transitions, and its rise provided the ingredients for the emergence of a biosphere inhabited by complex organisms. Over the last decades, the potential for bioengineering multicellular systems has been instrumental in interrogating nature and exploring novel paths to regeneration, disease, cognition, and behaviour. Here, we provide a list of open problems that encapsulate many of the ongoing and future challenges in the field and suggest conceptual approaches that may facilitate progress.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhyscomitrium LATERAL SUPPRESSOR genes promote formative cell divisions to produce germ cell lineages in both male and female gametangia.
New Phytol
December 2024
Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology, Kanazawa University, Kanazawa, 920-1192, Ishikawa, Japan.
The evolution of green plants from aquatic to terrestrial environments is thought to have been facilitated by the acquisition of gametangia, specialized multicellular organs housing gametes. Antheridia and archegonia, responsible for producing and protecting sperm and egg cells, undergo formative cell divisions to produce a cell to differentiate into germ cell lineages and the other cell to give rise to surrounding structures. However, the genes governing this process remain unidentified.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCell-autonomous adaptation: an overlooked avenue of adaptation in human evolution.
Trends Genet
January 2025
Department of Molecular Genetics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot, 76100, Israel. Electronic address:
Adaptation to environmental conditions occurs over diverse evolutionary timescales. In multi-cellular organisms, adaptive traits are often studied in tissues/organs relevant to the environmental challenge. We argue for the importance of an underappreciated layer of evolutionary adaptation manifesting at the cellular level.
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