More about how evolution works: multicellularity (Evolution)

by David Turell, (3659 days ago) @ dhw


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.

David: 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?

dhw: 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?

I call it a drive for complexity, since bacteria show it is not necessary , which your approach implies.

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