ReviewNature reviews. Microbiology2016
Division of labour in microorganisms: an evolutionary perspective.
Review in Nature reviews. Microbiology, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 94 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
94 citing papers in PubMed.
- Considering internal conflict in the face of natural product biosynthesis and biosynthetic gene cluster evolution.Essays in biochemistry · 2026Review
- Exploring bet-hedging inmSystems · 2026Article
- Article
- Regulator-derived growth and fitness costs ofbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Cooperation and the evolution of bacterial niche breadth.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Sculpting Microbial Microenvironments: Spatiotemporal Control via Programmable Electrochemical Gradients.Journal of the American Chemical Society · 2026Review
- Decoding the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of bacterial virulence gene expression using single-cell approaches.Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Review
- The paradox of intervention: Resilience in adaptive multirole coordination networks.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Unravelling the Potential of Fungal Division of Labour in the Laccase ProducerJournal of fungi (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Review
- Gastruloid patterning reflects division of labor among biased stem cell clones.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Protein Homeostasis Impairment Alters Phenotypic Heterogeneity of Biofilm Communities.Molecular microbiology · 2025Article
- Tailocin-Mediated Interactions Among Soft Rot Pectobacteriaceae.Molecular ecology · 2025Article
- Group size and labour demands determine division of labour as a consequence of demographic stochasticity.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Article
- The evolution of division of labour: preconditions and evolutionary feedback.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Review
- Division of labour in colony defence in a clonal ant.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Division of labour as key driver of social evolution.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2025Review
- Evolution of irreversible differentiation under stage-dependent cell differentiation.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Role of horizontal gene transfer and cooperation in rhizosphere microbiome assembly.Brazilian journal of microbiology : [publication of the Brazilian Society for Microbiology] · 2025Review
- Adaptive evolutionary trajectories in complexity: Transitions between unicellularity and facultative differentiated multicellularity.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
34 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The division of labour, whereby individuals within a group specialize in certain tasks, has long been appreciated as central to the evolution of complex biological societies. In recent years, several examples of division of labour in microorganisms have arisen, which suggests that this strategy may also be important in microbial species. In this Opinion article, we explore the set of conditions that define division of labour and propose that cooperation between different phenotypes is a defining feature of division of labour. Furthermore, we discuss how clarifying what constitutes division of labour highlights key evolutionary questions, including what form division of labour takes and why it is favoured by natural selection.
Indexed as
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.