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Animal cell differentiation patterns suppress somatic evolution.

John W Pepper¹, Kathleen Sprouffske, Carlo C Maley

¹Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, United States of America. jpepper1@email.arizona

Plos Computational Biology

|December 19, 2007

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Serial differentiation, a multistage cell process, prevents harmful cell evolution in multicellular organisms. This mechanism, involving stem cells and transient amplifying cells, maintains organismal integrity and may explain the evolution of multicellularity.

Area of Science:

Evolutionary biology
Developmental biology
Cell biology

Background:

Multicellular organisms require mechanisms to suppress somatic selection and maintain integrity.
Cell differentiation continues in long-lived organisms even after development, suggesting an ongoing role.

Purpose of the Study:

To investigate the role of serial differentiation in suppressing somatic evolution within multicellular organisms.
To test the hypothesis that serial differentiation prevents detrimental cell-level evolution.

Main Methods:

Utilized an agent-based computer simulation to model cell population dynamics and evolution.
Compared evolutionary rates in tissues with serial differentiation versus simpler patterns.

Main Results:

Related Experiment Videos

Tissues organized with serial differentiation exhibited lower rates of detrimental cell-level evolution.
Self-renewing cell populations are susceptible to somatic evolution, unlike non-self-renewing ones.
Disruptive mutations can create new, vulnerable self-renewing cell populations.

Conclusions:

Serial differentiation is a key mechanism for suppressing somatic evolution and maintaining organismal integrity in metazoans.
This process is relevant to understanding the evolution of multicellularity and the origins of diseases like cancer and senescence.