ArticleeLife2022
Novel multicellular prokaryote discovered next to an underground stream.
Article in eLife, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed.
- Review
- Direct benefits are not necessary for the evolution of multicellularity.Nature ecology & evolution · 2026Article
- Article
- The Saint-Leonard Urban Glaciotectonic Cave Harbors Rich and Diverse Planktonic and Sedimentary Microbial Communities.Microorganisms · 2024Article
- Multicellular magnetotactic bacteria are genetically heterogeneous consortia with metabolically differentiated cells.PLoS biology · 2024Article
- A qualitative assessment of limits of active flight in low density atmospheres.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Cellular arrangement impacts metabolic activity and antibiotic tolerance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms.PLoS biology · 2024Article
- Cell arrangement impacts metabolic activity and antibiotic tolerance inbioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2023Article
- Illuminating a new path to multicellularity.eLife · 2022Article
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Authors and funding
8 authors.
Funding
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Abstract
A diversity of prokaryotes currently exhibit multicellularity with different generation mechanisms in a variety of contexts of ecology on Earth. In the present study, we report a new type of multicellular bacterium, HS-3, isolated from an underground stream. HS-3 self-organizes its filamentous cells into a layer-structured colony with the properties of a nematic liquid crystal. After maturation, the colony starts to form a semi-closed sphere accommodating clusters of coccobacillus daughter cells and selectively releases them upon contact with water. This is the first report that shows that a liquid-crystal status of cells can support the prokaryotic multicellular behavior. Importantly, the observed behavior of HS-3 suggests that the recurrent intermittent exposure of colonies to water flow in the cave might have been the ecological context that cultivated the evolutionary transition from unicellular to multicellular life. This is the new extant model that underpins theories regarding a role of ecological context in the emergence of multicellularity.
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