More about how evolution works: multicellularity (Evolution)

by dhw, Thursday, October 20, 2016, 07:41 (2738 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: Recent work on amoeba which create stalks and bodies with cells functioning differently is discussed:

http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/47255/title/Single-Celled-Life-Pr...

QUOTES: Researchers studying an amoeba species have determined that some of its proteins bear a striking similarity to proteins in multicellular animals, suggesting that the leap from unicellularity to multicellularity may have been easier than previously suspected.

The new work shows “a lot of the machinery was there millions of years before animals evolved.”

David’s comment: No question there had to be some sort of transitional preparation. Multicellular life comes with baggage. It dies Species die out. Why bother?

If this is all true, it’s a huge step in our understanding of how evolution happened. The transition from single cell to multi-cellular sounds considerably simpler if the mechanism was already there from the start. Why bother? How about an in-built (perhaps God-given) drive for survival and/or improvement?


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