Aggregative Multicellularity Evolved Independently in the Eukaryotic Supergroup Rhizaria
Abstract
Summary. Multicellular forms of life have evolved many times, independently giving rise to a diversity of organisms such as animals, plants, and fungi that together comprise the visible biosphere. Yet multicellular life is far more widespread among eukaryotes than just these three lineages. A particularly common form of multicellularity is a social aggregative fruiting lifestyle whereby individual cells associate to form a "fungus-like" sorocarp. This complex developmental process that requires the interaction of thousands of cells working in concert was made famous by the "cellular slime mold"Dictyostelium discoideum, which became an important model organism [1]. Although sorocarpic protistan lineages have been identified in five of the major eukaryote groups [2-8], the ubiquitous and globally distributed species Guttulinopsis vulgaris has eluded proper classification. Here we demonstrate, by phylogenomic analyses of a 159-protein data set, that G. vulgaris is a member of Rhizaria and is thus the first member of this eukaryote supergroup known to be capable of aggregative multicellularity.
- Publication:
-
Current Biology
- Pub Date:
- June 2012
- DOI:
- 10.1016/j.cub.2012.04.021
- Bibcode:
- 2012CBio...22.1123B