ArticleJournal of evolutionary biology2017
Genetic basis for soma is present in undifferentiated volvocine green algae.
Article in Journal of evolutionary biology, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers.
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Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed.
- Plasticity and the evolution of group-level regulation of cellular differentiation in the volvocine algae.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2025Article
- Functional analysis of regA paralog rlsD in Volvox carteri.The Plant journal : for cell and molecular biology · 2024Article
- Fossil-calibrated molecular clock data enable reconstruction of steps leading to differentiated multicellularity and anisogamy in the Volvocine algae.BMC biology · 2024Article
- Different transcription of novel, functional long non-coding RNA genes by UV-B in green algae, Volvox carteri.International microbiology : the official journal of the Spanish Society for Microbiology · 2024Article
- A Reinvestigation of Multiple Independent Evolution and Triassic-Jurassic Origins of Multicellular Volvocine Algae.Genome biology and evolution · 2023Article
- The Genetics of Fitness Reorganization during the Transition to Multicellularity: The VolvocineGenes · 2023Review
- Gene loss during a transition to multicellularity.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- A personal cost of cheating can stabilize reproductive altruism during the early evolution of clonal multicellularity.Biology letters · 2022Article
- The Curious Case of Multicellularity in the Volvocine Algae.Frontiers in genetics · 2022Review
- Genome sequencing of the multicellular alga Astrephomene provides insights into convergent evolution of germ-soma differentiation.Scientific reports · 2021Article
- Phylotranscriptomics points to multiple independent origins of multicellularity and cellular differentiation in the volvocine algae.BMC biology · 2021Article
- Review
- Evolution of Reproductive Division of Labor - Lessons Learned From the Social AmoebaFrontiers in cell and developmental biology · 2021Article
- The genetic basis for the evolution of soma: mechanistic evidence for the co-option of a stress-induced gene into a developmental master regulator.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2020Article
- The many roads to and from multicellularity.Journal of experimental botany · 2020Review
- Volvox and volvocine green algae.EvoDevo · 2020Review
- Multicellularity Drives the Evolution of Sexual Traits.The American naturalist · 2018Article
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7 authors.
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Abstract
Somatic cellular differentiation plays a critical role in the transition from unicellular to multicellular life, but the evolution of its genetic basis remains poorly understood. By definition, somatic cells do not reproduce to pass on genes and so constitute an extreme form of altruistic behaviour. The volvocine green algae provide an excellent model system to study the evolution of multicellularity and somatic differentiation. In Volvox carteri, somatic cell differentiation is controlled by the regA gene, which is part of a tandem duplication of genes known as the reg cluster. Although previous work found the reg cluster in divergent Volvox species, its origin and distribution in the broader group of volvocine algae has not been known. Here, we show that the reg cluster is present in many species without somatic cells and determine that the genetic basis for soma arose before the phenotype at the origin of the family Volvocaceae approximately 200 million years ago. We hypothesize that the ancestral function was involved in regulating reproduction in response to stress and that this function was later co-opted to produce soma. Determining that the reg cluster was co-opted to control somatic cell development provides insight into how cellular differentiation, and with it greater levels of complexity and individuality, evolves.
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