Skip to main content
bioRxiv
  • Home
  • About
  • Submit
  • ALERTS / RSS
Advanced Search
New Results

Alternating selection for dispersal and multicellularity favors regulated life cycles

Julien Barrere, Piyush Nanda, View ORCID ProfileAndrew W. Murray
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.10.14.512267
Julien Barrere
1Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, 52 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Piyush Nanda
1Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, 52 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Andrew W. Murray
1Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard University, 52 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • ORCID record for Andrew W. Murray
  • For correspondence: awm@mcb.harvard.edu
  • Abstract
  • Full Text
  • Info/History
  • Metrics
  • Preview PDF
Loading

Summary

The evolution of complex multicellularity opened paths to increased morphological diversity and organizational novelty. This transition involved three processes: cells remained attached to one another to form groups, cells within these groups differentiated to perform different tasks, and the groups evolved new reproductive strategies1–5. Recent experiments identified selective pressures and mutations that can drive the emergence of simple multicellularity and cell differentiation6–11 but the evolution of life cycles, in particular, how simple multicellular forms reproduce has been understudied. The selective pressure and mechanisms that produced a regular alternation between single cells and multicellular collectives are still unclear12. To probe the factors regulating simple multicellular life cycles, we examined a collection of wild isolates of the budding yeast, S. cerevisiae12. We found that all these strains can exist as multicellular clusters, a phenotype that is controlled by the mating type locus and strongly influenced by the nutritional environment. Inspired by this variation, we engineered inducible dispersal in a multicellular laboratory strain and demonstrated that a regulated life cycle has an advantage over constitutively single-celled or constitutively multicellular life cycles when the environment alternates between favoring intercellular cooperation (a low sucrose concentration) and dispersal (a patchy environment generated by emulsion). Our results suggest that simple multicellularity in wild isolates could be under selection and is regulated by their genetic composition and the environments they encounter and that alternating patterns of resource availability may have played a role in the evolution of life cycles.

Competing Interest Statement

The authors have declared no competing interest.

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
Back to top
PreviousNext
Posted October 18, 2022.
Download PDF
Email

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word about bioRxiv.

NOTE: Your email address is requested solely to identify you as the sender of this article.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Alternating selection for dispersal and multicellularity favors regulated life cycles
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from bioRxiv
(Your Name) thought you would like to see this page from the bioRxiv website.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Share
Alternating selection for dispersal and multicellularity favors regulated life cycles
Julien Barrere, Piyush Nanda, Andrew W. Murray
bioRxiv 2022.10.14.512267; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.10.14.512267
Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo LinkedIn logo Mendeley logo
Citation Tools
Alternating selection for dispersal and multicellularity favors regulated life cycles
Julien Barrere, Piyush Nanda, Andrew W. Murray
bioRxiv 2022.10.14.512267; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.10.14.512267

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Subject Area

  • Evolutionary Biology
Subject Areas
All Articles
  • Animal Behavior and Cognition (4399)
  • Biochemistry (9637)
  • Bioengineering (7127)
  • Bioinformatics (24958)
  • Biophysics (12677)
  • Cancer Biology (10002)
  • Cell Biology (14406)
  • Clinical Trials (138)
  • Developmental Biology (7991)
  • Ecology (12152)
  • Epidemiology (2067)
  • Evolutionary Biology (16030)
  • Genetics (10957)
  • Genomics (14784)
  • Immunology (9911)
  • Microbiology (23750)
  • Molecular Biology (9516)
  • Neuroscience (51102)
  • Paleontology (370)
  • Pathology (1545)
  • Pharmacology and Toxicology (2694)
  • Physiology (4038)
  • Plant Biology (8700)
  • Scientific Communication and Education (1512)
  • Synthetic Biology (2406)
  • Systems Biology (6461)
  • Zoology (1350)