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Related Experiment Video

Updated: Sep 28, 2025

Author Spotlight: Understanding Microbe Adaptation Using Innovative Techniques for Exploring Thermophilic Evolution

Author Spotlight: Understanding Microbe Adaptation Using Innovative Techniques for Exploring Thermophilic Evolution

Published on: June 14, 2024

Experimental evolution is not just for model organisms.

Anthony Burnetti¹, William C Ratcliff¹

¹School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America.

|March 30, 2022

Summary

This summary is machine-generated.

Researchers evolved simple multicellularity in Sphaeroforma arctica, a unicellular relative of animals. This breakthrough opens new research avenues into the evolution of multicellularity in understudied organisms.

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Area of Science:

Evolutionary biology
Developmental biology
Microbiology

Background:

The evolution of multicellularity is a pivotal transition in life's history.
Understanding this transition requires model systems that bridge unicellular and multicellular life.
Sphaeroforma arctica, a unicellular relative of animals, offers a unique system to study early multicellularity.

Purpose of the Study:

To experimentally evolve simple multicellularity in Sphaeroforma arctica.
To investigate the genetic and developmental mechanisms underlying the transition to multicellularity.
To establish Sphaeroforma arctica as a model organism for studying the evolution of multicellularity.

Main Methods:

Employing long-term experimental evolution of Sphaeroforma arctica populations under controlled conditions.
Utilizing genomic and transcriptomic analyses to identify genetic changes associated with multicellularity.
Observing and quantifying morphological and behavioral changes during the evolution of multicellularity.

Main Results:

Successful evolution of stable, simple multicellular forms from unicellular Sphaeroforma arctica.
Identification of key genetic modifications potentially driving cell-cell adhesion and cooperation.
Demonstration of phenotypic plasticity and adaptation in the evolved multicellular lineages.

Conclusions:

Experimental evolution is a viable strategy to study the origins of multicellularity.
Sphaeroforma arctica provides a powerful new model for exploring the evolution of animal-like multicellularity.
This research opens novel avenues for investigating the genetic and ecological factors shaping early multicellular life.