ArticleCurrent biology : CB2022
The cellular slime mold Fonticula alba forms a dynamic, multicellular collective while feeding on bacteria.
Article in Current biology : CB, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
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12 citing papers in PubMed, 29 citations in OpenAlex.
- Statistical and mechanical analysis of multi-pseudopodial locomotion in a testate amoeba, Arcella sp.Proceedings of the Japan Academy. Series B, Physical and biological sciences · 2026Article
- Synergistic role of Trichormus variabilis and zeolites in three-layer culturing system for modulating the wastewater effluent community.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Myosin 2 drives actin contractility in fast-crawling species outside of the amorphean lineage.Current biology : CB · 2025Article
- Frog-killing chytrid fungus deploys different strategies to regulate intracellular pressure in developmental states that have or lack a cell wall.Current biology : CB · 2025Article
- Pattern formation along signaling gradients driven by active droplet behavior of cell swarms.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- A close unicellular relative reveals aggregative multicellularity was key to the evolution of animals.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Unveiling Another Dimension: Advanced Visualization of Cancer Invasion and Metastasis via Micro-CT Imaging.Cancers · 2025Article
- The evolution and diversity of actin-dependent cell migration.Molecular biology of the cell · 2023Review
- Multi-scale dynamic imaging reveals that cooperative motility behaviors promote efficient predation in bacteria.Nature communications · 2023Article
- A conserved pressure-driven mechanism for regulating cytosolic osmolarity.Current biology : CB · 2023Article
- Evolution of selfish multicellularity: collective organisation of individual spatio-temporal regulatory strategies.BMC ecology and evolution · 2023Article
- A conserved pressure-driven mechanism for regulating cytosolic osmolarity.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2023Article
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5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Multicellularity evolved in fungi and animals, or the opisthokonts, from their common amoeboflagellate ancestor but resulted in strikingly distinct cellular organizations. The origins of this multicellularity divergence are not known. The stark mechanistic differences that underlie the two groups and the lack of information about ancestral cellular organizations limits progress in this field. We discovered a new type of invasive multicellular behavior in Fonticula alba, a unique species in the opisthokont tree, which has a simple, bacteria-feeding sorocarpic amoeba lifestyle. This invasive multicellularity follows germination dependent on the bacterial culture state, after which amoebae coalesce to form dynamic collectives that invade virgin bacterial resources. This bacteria-dependent social behavior emerges from amoeba density and allows for rapid and directed invasion. The motile collectives have animal-like properties but also hyphal-like search and invasive behavior. These surprising findings enrich the diverse multicellularities present within the opisthokont lineage and offer a new perspective on fungal origins.
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