Spontaneous Emergence of Multicellular Heritability.

ABSTRACT: The major transitions in evolution include events and processes that result in the emergence of new levels of biological individuality. For collectives to undergo Darwinian evolution, their traits must be heritable, but the emergence of higher-level heritability is poorly understood and has long been considered a stumbling block for nascent evolutionary transitions. Using analytical models, synthetic biology, and biologically-informed simulations, we explored the emergence of trait heritability during the evolution of multicellularity. Prior work on the evolution of multicellularity has asserted that substantial collective-level trait heritability either emerges only late in the transition or requires some evolutionary change subsequent to the formation of clonal multicellular groups. In a

SUBMITTER: Zamani-Dahaj SA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10454505 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature