Scientists watched a single-celled organism become multicellular #pbseons #science #evolution

Scientists watched a single-celled organism evolve into a multicellular one in the lab - and they may have solved an evolutionary mystery.

Produced by Complexly for PBS Digital Studios

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[migueljose]

So you're basically saying "Cells together strong"

[surfk]

So simple and so elegant. That means that multicellularism could still be forming today.

[entropybentwhistle]

Survival mechanism: Get too big to be eaten…finishing off that whole bag of Oreos may save your life!

[joshuaestrada]

Ancient cell: I'm gonna get eaten.

other cells: They can't eat all of us can they...

[Gorindakia]

When the predators don’t treat you well, sometimes you just need to band together and unionize

[alexandrefernandes]

For context: Im an evolutionary biologist studying the emergence of multicellularity in the University of Cambridge

This is a great paper, but to clear things up:

1. This is NOT the first time we observe the evolution of multicellularity in a lab (like many seem to believe in the comments)! Many other previous labs have successfully observed emergent muticellular behaviour in the past.

2. This paper does NOT "solve" the origin of multicellularity! Multicellularity has evolved independently more than 20 times in different groups and for a diversity of reasons (size advantage, collective migration, buoyancy to name a few).

What the paper actually shows:

Multicellularity can evolve in response to predation, even in a short time-span!

Is this why it did in our unicellular ancestors? Maybe, maybe not. I personaly don't believe so for reasons that dont fit here, but who knows 😅

Happy to answer any questions regarding this topic :)

[TieDye]

How do we differentiate between a true multicellular organism and a colony?

[edwardcamp]

My mind is blown! Thank you, Eons lady!

[Homerow]

Does this effectively nix multicellularization from the list of possible Great Filters in the Fermi Paradox? If multicellularity is something we can observe occurring over the last few hundred years of study, it seems like it could easily happen in the wild over geologic timespans.

[cogmonocle]

This is one of the most exciting discoveries I've heard of in a while; this is a huge step forward in ruling out a potential "great filter" in the rise of complex life on a planet. Makes me wonder what cause it to take 3by in the first place - Cells not complex enough? Lack of predators? No mitochondria?

[dakotafrazier]

Also makes sense if you've research abiogenesis. How certain molecules can self organizes to form life and then that life self organizes into a larger version of itself. Then it slowly assimilates the different individual cell into one complex multicellular life.

[PerStaurup]

Amazing study, thanks for covering it! Reckon I'm too big to be eaten too. 🤞🏼

[tiberiusgracchus]

I wonder which cell broached the subject first. "Hey buddy, I got an idea about how to deal with all these predators."

[Randomstuff]

I also love how you see this upscale to animals who will group together for safety too. Every life has the same needs, physically and psychologically

[markgigiel]

Actual EVOLUTION in a short period of time. Show that to the deniers.

[Zinkolo]

I love PBS Eons. They're so wholesome when it comes to teaching science but they don't dumb it down.

[felicitybywater]

I wish my grandfather was still alive to see all this science coming at us in this century. He was born just a few years after humanity's first flights and lived to see Armstrong step down onto the moon.

[evanstential]

I let this loop like 5x so I can understand. bravo!

[beretperson]

If pressure from predators in a controlled environment was all it took, shouldn't we expect this to be a relatively common occurrence in the wild? Lots of predators there.

[MogaTange]

Multicellular organisms must be evolving on Discord.