Quote:
Originally Posted by Neapolitan
And in the one of the final stages of the experiment those multi-cellular grouping (when they shook the vial some fell apart and the strong bounded multi-cellular yeast remain those other that fell apart) those that were loosely bound, was there specialization going on within the loosely bound multi-cellular group, because if there was why was there a specialization before a strong cellular bound that would keep them together as a multi-cellular organism?
|
The clumps would likely be yeast cells that stuck together after reproduction. One cell buds off another cell and the two stick together because there's a stickyness to the surface, even on normal yeasts. Through evolution, that trait (as well as some others) was encouraged.
For reasons due to biological selfishsness, it is unlikely that more advanced multicellularity (with specialized cells doing different tasks) would evolve between unrelated yeasts. F.ex if you are a part of a multicellular machinery and have to sacrifice your own ability to reproduce, that could only have a fitness benefit as long as you did it in order to increase the fitness of those closely related to you.
Biological selfishness is a heavy topic to get into with someone who has not studied biology, but it is a highly interesting subject and for most who don't know it, learning about it would surely change their lives or at least the way in which they percieve life. Yet again, I recommend Richard Dawkins' popular classic The Selfish Gene.