Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41572938›Full record

ReviewBioEssays : news and reviews in molecular, cellular and developmental biology2026

A New Classification Framework to Understand Evolutionary Transitions in Individuality.

Saskia Wilmsen, Christian Kost

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in BioEssays : news and reviews in molecular, cellular and developmental biology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. A New Classification Framework to Understand Evolutionary Transitions in Individuality.BioEssays : news and reviews in molecular, cellular and developmental biology · 2026
    Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors.

Saskia WilmsenDepartment of Ecology, School of Biology/Chemistry, Osnabrück University, Osnabrück, Germany.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2442-9322
Christian KostDepartment of Ecology, School of Biology/Chemistry, Osnabrück University, Osnabrück, Germany.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7870-7343

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Life on Earth has evolved as a series of evolutionary transitions, during which lower-level units merged to form a new and more complex higher-level entity. Besides few canonical examples, many life forms exist for which it remains unclear whether or not they are about to complete the transition. This paucity of mechanistic understanding is likely due to an overemphasis on few model systems and a lack of criteria to compare disparate biological units. Here, we aim at filling this gap by proposing a new framework to classify different forms of biological organization, which considers two fundamental aspects: (i) the physiological component and (ii) the evolutionary component. Categorizing different biological units according to whether and how these aspects are represented yields six types of structural organization. Our framework allows to compare different organizational forms, and, in this way, provide insight into the evolutionary processes giving rise to these arrangements.

Indexed as

Biological EvolutionAnimalsHumansbiological unitsevolutionary transitions in individualityevolutionary unitindividualitylife cyclesorganismalityphysiological unitsymbiosis

Identifiers

PMID41572938
PMCPMC12828248

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.