Editing Cell (biology) (section)

=== Origin of multicellularity ===

Multicellularity has evolved independently at least 25 times,<ref name="Grosberg2007">{{cite journal |last1= Grosberg |first1=R. K. |last2=Strathmann |first2=R. R. |url=http://www-eve.ucdavis.edu/grosberg/Grosberg%20pdf%20papers/2007%20Grosberg%20%26%20Strathmann.AREES.pdf |title=The evolution of multicellularity: A minor major transition? |journal=Annu Rev Ecol Evol Syst |year=2007 |volume=38 |pages=621–654 |doi=10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.36.102403.114735 |access-date=2013-12-23 |archive-date=2016-03-04 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304121329/http://www-eve.ucdavis.edu/grosberg/Grosberg%20pdf%20papers/2007%20Grosberg%20%26%20Strathmann.AREES.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> including in some prokaryotes, like [[cyanobacteria]], [[myxobacteria]], [[actinomycetes]], or ''[[Methanosarcina]]''. However, complex multicellular organisms evolved only in six eukaryotic groups: animals, fungi, brown algae, red algae, green algae, and plants.<ref name="pmid21351878">{{cite journal |last1=Popper |first1=Zoë A. |last2=Michel |first2=Gurvan |last3=Hervé |first3=Cécile |last4=Domozych |first4=David S. |last5=Willats |first5=William G.T. |last6=Tuohy |first6=Maria G. |last7=Kloareg |first7=Bernard |last8=Stengel |first8=Dagmar B. |display-authors=3 |title=Evolution and diversity of plant cell walls: from algae to flowering plants |journal=Annual Review of Plant Biology |volume=62 |pages=567–590 |date=2011 |pmid=21351878 |doi=10.1146/annurev-arplant-042110-103809 |url=http://public.wsu.edu/~lange-m/Documnets/Teaching2011/Popper2011.pdf |hdl=10379/6762 |s2cid=11961888 |hdl-access=free |access-date=2013-12-23 |archive-date=2016-07-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160729224035/http://public.wsu.edu/~lange-m/Documnets/Teaching2011/Popper2011.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> It evolved repeatedly for plants ([[Chloroplastida]]), once or twice for [[animal]]s, once for [[brown algae]], and perhaps several times for [[fungi]], [[Mycetozoa|slime molds]], and [[red algae]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Bonner |first=John Tyler |author-link=John Tyler Bonner |year=1998 |title=The Origins of Multicellularity |journal=Integrative Biology |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=27–36 |url=http://courses.cit.cornell.edu/biog1101/outlines/Bonner%20-Origin%20of%20Multicellularity.pdf |format=PDF, 0.2 MB |issn=1093-4391 |doi=10.1002/(SICI)1520-6602(1998)1:1<27::AID-INBI4>3.0.CO;2-6 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120308175112/http://courses.cit.cornell.edu/biog1101/outlines/Bonner%20-Origin%20of%20Multicellularity.pdf |archive-date=March 8, 2012 }}</ref> Multicellularity may have evolved from [[Colony (biology)|colonies]] of interdependent organisms, from [[cellularization]], or from organisms in [[Symbiosis|symbiotic relationships]].

The first evidence of multicellularity is from [[cyanobacteria]]-like organisms that lived between 3 and 3.5 billion years ago.<ref name="Grosberg2007"/> Other early fossils of multicellular organisms include the contested ''[[Grypania]] spiralis'' and the fossils of the black shales of the [[Palaeoproterozoic]] [[Francevillian Group Fossil]] B Formation in [[Gabon]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Albani |first1=Abderrazak El |last2=Bengtson |first2=Stefan |last3=Canfield |first3=Donald E. |last4=Bekker |first4=Andrey |last5=Macchiarelli |first5=Roberto |last6=Mazurier |first6=Arnaud |last7=Hammarlund |first7=Emma U. |last8=Boulvais |first8=Philippe |last9=Dupuy |first9=Jean-Jacques |last10=Fontaine |first10=Claude |last11=Fürsich |first11=Franz T. |last12=Gauthier-Lafaye |first12=François |last13=Janvier |first13=Philippe |last14=Javaux |first14=Emmanuelle |last15=Ossa |first15=Frantz Ossa |last16=Pierson-Wickmann |first16=Anne-Catherine |last17=Riboulleau |first17=Armelle |last18=Sardini |first18=Paul |last19=Vachard |first19=Daniel |last20=Whitehouse |first20=Martin |last21=Meunier |first21=Alain |display-authors=3 |title=Large colonial organisms with coordinated growth in oxygenated environments 2.1 Gyr ago |journal=Nature |volume=466 |issue=7302 |pages=100–104 |date=July 2010 |pmid=20596019 |doi=10.1038/nature09166 |author-link=Abderrazak El Albani |s2cid=4331375 |bibcode=2010Natur.466..100A }}</ref>

The evolution of multicellularity from unicellular ancestors has been replicated in the laboratory, in [[experimental evolution|evolution experiments]] using predation as the [[selective pressure]].<ref name="Grosberg2007"/>