ReviewDevelopmental cell2017
The Origin of Animal Multicellularity and Cell Differentiation.
Review in Developmental cell, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 203 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
203 citing papers in PubMed.
- Re-evaluating molecular clock maximum age calibrations revives pre-Ediacaran divergence estimates for animals.Science advances · 2026Article
- Review
- Unicellular and Multicellular Modes of Selection Impose Distinct Constraints on Cellular Phenotype Evolution.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Article
- Article
- A Consensus Genome Sequence for the Social Amoeba Dictyostelium giganteum.Genome biology and evolution · 2026Article
- Decoding the origins of cellular self-organization for engineered biology.Nature biotechnology · 2026Review
- Adhesion and polarity-driven morphogenesis: Mechanisms and constraints in tissue formation.PLoS computational biology · 2026Article
- Endocytosed lipids induce cell aggregation via filopodia retraction in a close relative of animals.EMBO reports · 2026Article
- Direct benefits are not necessary for the evolution of multicellularity.Nature ecology & evolution · 2026Article
- Mesoglea biogenesis reveals a cryptic aboral valve for pressure regulation in cnidarian morphogenesis.Science advances · 2026Article
- Gravity as a Boundary Condition for the Evolution of Three-Dimensional Multicellularity.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- The pathoanatomy of cancer: order in paradox.EBioMedicine · 2026Review
- The molecular evolution of vertebrate organs.Nature ecology & evolution · 2026Review
- The limits of information in precise regulation of early multicellular life cycles.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Regulation of tRNA expression during the social cycle of the amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum.BMC molecular and cell biology · 2026Article
- Flexible paths to multicellularity.Nature · 2026Article
- A smartphone analogy to explore the origin of animals.The EMBO journal · 2026Review
- Article
- Article
143 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
Abstract
Over 600 million years ago, animals evolved from a unicellular or colonial organism whose cell(s) captured bacteria with a collar complex, a flagellum surrounded by a microvillar collar. Using principles from evolutionary cell biology, we reason that the transition to multicellularity required modification of pre-existing mechanisms for extracellular matrix synthesis and cytokinesis. We discuss two hypotheses for the origin of animal cell types: division of labor from ancient plurifunctional cells and conversion of temporally alternating phenotypes into spatially juxtaposed cell types. Mechanistic studies in diverse animals and their relatives promise to deepen our understanding of animal origins and cell biology.
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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.