Fossil-calibrated inference of divergence times among the Volvocine algae enables reconstruction of the steps that led to differentiated multicellularity

Throughout its nearly four-billion-year history, life has undergone evolutionary transitions in which simpler subunits have become integrated to form a more complex whole. Many of these transitions opened the door to innovations that resulted in increased biodiversity and/or organismal efficiency. The evolution of multicellularity from unicellular forms represents one such transition, one that paved the way for cellular differentiation, including differentiation of male and female gametes. A useful model for studying the evolution of multicellularity and cellular differentiation is the volvocine algae, a clade of freshwater green algae whose members range from unicellular to colonial, from undifferentiated to completely differentiated, and whose gamete types can be isogamous, anisogamous, or oogamous. To better understand how multicellularity, differentiation, and gametes evolved in this group, we used comparative genomics and fossil data to establish a geologically calibrated roadmap o..., , , # Fossil-calibrated inference of divergence times among the Volvocine algae enables reconstruction of the steps that led to differentiated multicellularity

This README is for:

\"Fossil-calibrated molecular clock enables reconstruction of steps leading to differentiated multicellularity in the Volvocine algae\" by CR Lindsey, AH Knoll, MD Herron, and F Rosenzweig.

DOI = [https://doi.org/10.1186/s12915-024-01878-1](https://doi.org/10.1186/s12915-024-01878-1)

The contents of this file include the following:

1. **phytools_r_scripts.zip:** R scripts used to run simmap analyses in Phytools Specifically, these are the R scripts used to generate simmap analyses for Kirk's 12 developmental traits, certain sexual traits, and misc. traits in the Volvocine algae.
2. **MBASR_run_script_template:** MBASR template script used to run all the ancestral state reconstructions in MBASR
3. **gene_alns_263.zip)**: All 263 alignment files used in our maximum likelihood and Mr. Bayes phylogenetic analys...