Developing multicellularity; poor lab example (Evolution)

by David Turell , Friday, July 03, 2015, 04:57 (3220 days ago) @ David Turell

tis article is technically showing multicellularity in that groups of similar cells are clumped together, but they all do the same thing, none have differing function which is the definition of true multicellularity:-http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn27762-one-gene-may-drive-leap-from-single-cell-to-multicellular-life.html#.VZYNPGDbK1u-"This time, instead of daughter cells sticking together in an amorphous blob as they did under selection for settling, the algae formed predation-resistant, spherical units of four, eight or 16 cells that look almost identical to related species of algae that are naturally multicellular.-"''It's likely that what we've seen in the predation experiments recapitulates some of the early steps of evolution," says Herron.-"Neither Ratcliff's yeast nor Herron's algae has unequivocally crossed the critical threshold to multicellularity, which would require cells to divide labour between them, says Richard Michod of the University of Arizona in Tucson.-"But the experiments are an important step along that road. "They're opening up new avenues for approaching this question," he says."