On the evolution of differentiated multicellularity

TL;DR

This paper presents a mathematical model to understand the evolution of specialized somatic and reproductive cells in multicellular organisms, revealing conditions under which somatic cells are advantageous and their optimal proportions.

Contribution

It introduces a new quantitative model for the evolution of cell differentiation, linking organism fitness to cell types, size, and benefit functions, and predicts the high fraction of reproductive cells.

Findings

Reproductive cells always constitute a high fraction of the organism.

Small somatic cells can outnumber reproductive cells but have less biomass.

Only convex benefit functions allow somatic biomass to surpass reproductive biomass.

Abstract

Most conspicuous organisms are multicellular and most multicellular organisms develop somatic cells to perform specific, non-reproductive tasks. The ubiquity of this division of labor suggests that it is highly advantageous. In this paper, I present a model to study the evolution of specialized cells. The model allows for unicellular and multicellular organisms that may contain somatic (terminally differentiated) cells. Cells contribute additively to a quantitative trait. The fitness of the organism depends on this quantitative trait (via a benefit function), the size of the organism, and the number of somatic cells. This model allows one to determine when somatic cells are advantageous and to calculate the optimum number (or fraction) of reproductive cells. I show that the fraction of reproductive cells is always surprisingly high. If somatic cells are very small they can outnumber reproductive cells but their biomass is still less than the biomass of reproductive cells. Only for convex benefit functions can the biomass of somatic cell exceed the biomass of reproductive cells. I discuss the biology of primitive multicellular organisms with respect to the model predictions. I find good agreement and outline how this work can be used to guide further quantitative studies of multicellularity.