Conflict reducing innovations in development enable increased multicellular complexity

Obligately multicellular organisms, where cells can only reproduce as part of the group, have evolved multiple times across the tree of life. Obligate multicellularity has only evolved when clonal groups form by cell division, rather than by cells aggregating, as clonality prevents internal conflict. Yet obligately multicellular organisms still vary greatly in ‘multicellular complexity’ (the number of cells and cell types): some comprise few cells and cell-types, and others billions of cells and thousands of types. Here, we test if variation in multicellular complexity is explained by conflict-suppressing mechanisms, namely a single cell bottleneck at the start of development, and a strict separation of germline and somatic cells. Applying a phylogenetic comparative analysis to the life-cycles 138 lineages of plants, animals, fungi and algae, we show that an early segregation of the germline stem-cell lineage is key to the evolution of more cell types. In contrast, the presence of a str..., , , # Conflict reducing innovations in development enable increased multicellular complexity Howe, J. Copenhagen University. Cornwallis, C. K. Lund University. Griffin, A. S. Oxford University. #### Cite this dataset Howe, Jack; Cornwallis, Charlie; Griffin, Ashleigh (2024). Conflict reducing innovations in development enable increased multicellular complexity [Dataset]. Dryad. #### Abstract Obligately multicellular organisms, where cells can only reproduce as part of the group, have evolved multiple times across the tree of life. Obligate multicellularity has only evolved when clonal groups form by cell division, rather than by cells aggregating, as clonality prevents internal conflict. Yet obligately multicellular organisms still vary greatly in ‘multicellular complexity’ (the number of cells and cell types): some comprise a few cells and cell types, while others have billions of cells and thousands of types. Here, we test whether variation in multicellular complexity is explained...专性多细胞生物（obligately multicellular organisms）是指细胞仅能以群体形式完成繁殖的类群，此类类群在生命之树上已独立演化多次。专性多细胞性仅在通过细胞分裂形成克隆群体（clonal groups）而非细胞聚集形成群体的情况下才会演化产生，因为克隆性可有效避免群体内部的冲突。尽管如此，这类专性多细胞生物的"多细胞复杂度"——即细胞总数与细胞类型数量——仍存在巨大差异：部分类群仅包含少量细胞与有限的细胞类型，而另一些类群则拥有数十亿细胞与数千种细胞类型。本研究针对植物、动物、真菌与藻类共138个类群的生活史开展系统发育比较分析（phylogenetic comparative analysis），旨在检验多细胞复杂度的差异是否可由冲突抑制机制加以解释，这些机制具体包括发育起始阶段的单细胞瓶颈，以及生殖系与体细胞的严格分离。研究结果表明，生殖系干细胞谱系（germline stem-cell lineage）的早期分化是演化出更多细胞类型的关键驱动因素。而单细胞瓶颈的相关作用则…… # 发育过程中的冲突抑制创新可提升多细胞复杂度 作者： 豪（Howe, J.），哥本哈根大学 康沃利斯（Cornwallis, C. K.），隆德大学 格里芬（Griffin, A. S.），牛津大学 #### 数据集引用 豪, 杰克; 康沃利斯, 查理; 格里芬, 阿什利 (2024). 发育过程中的冲突抑制创新可提升多细胞复杂度 [数据集]. Dryad. #### 摘要 专性多细胞生物是指细胞仅能以群体形式完成繁殖的类群，此类类群在生命之树上已独立演化多次。专性多细胞性仅在通过细胞分裂形成克隆群体而非细胞聚集形成群体的情况下才会演化产生，因为克隆性可有效避免群体内部的冲突。尽管如此，这类专性多细胞生物的"多细胞复杂度"——即细胞总数与细胞类型数量——仍存在巨大差异：部分类群仅包含少量细胞与有限的细胞类型，而另一些类群则拥有数十亿细胞与数千种细胞类型。本研究旨在检验多细胞复杂度的差异是否可由……