15-17 September 2019
MPI for Evolutionary Biology, Plön
Europe/Berlin timezone

Evolution of simple multicellular life cycles

16 Sep 2019, 15:20
20m
Lecture Hall (MPI for Evolutionary Biology, Plön)

Lecture Hall

MPI for Evolutionary Biology, Plön

August-Thienemann-Str 2, Plön, Germany

Speaker

Yuriy Pichugin

Description

A fascinating wealth of life cycles is observed in biology, from unicellularity to the concerted fragmentation of multicellular units.
However, the understanding of factors driving their evolution is still limited.
Here, we develop a model in which groups arise from the division of single cells that do not separate but stay together until the moment of group fragmentation.
We allow for all possible fragmentation patterns and search for evolutionary stable strategy.
We show that if the population size is constrained by the density-dependent death rate of groups, the population dynamics is equivalent to the model with unconstrained population growth.
Further analysis reveals that fragmentation modes that maximise growth rate comprise a restrictive set of binary fragmentation patterns that include production of unicellular propagules and division into two similar size groups.
All in all, our model provides a framework for exploring the adaptive significance of fragmentation modes and their associated life cycles.

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