
Contents
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First Step: Becoming Sedentary First Step: Becoming Sedentary
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Second Step: Initiation of Social Life Second Step: Initiation of Social Life
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The Genesis of Multicellularity The Genesis of Multicellularity
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Division of Labor in a Society of Ancestral Cells Division of Labor in a Society of Ancestral Cells
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Development of the Embryo: Retracing Ancestral Evolution? Development of the Embryo: Retracing Ancestral Evolution?
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Architectural Blueprints Endlessly Tested and Refined: Life Becomes Complex Architectural Blueprints Endlessly Tested and Refined: Life Becomes Complex
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Multicellularity: An Innovation Common to Many Groups of Organisms Multicellularity: An Innovation Common to Many Groups of Organisms
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Multicellularity: A Product of Convergent Evolution? Multicellularity: A Product of Convergent Evolution?
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The Innovation of Multicellularity: Result of Shared Software? The Innovation of Multicellularity: Result of Shared Software?
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The Program “Unity Is Strength” The Program “Unity Is Strength”
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Architectural Blueprints and Division of Labor: The Third Genesis of Life Architectural Blueprints and Division of Labor: The Third Genesis of Life
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7 The Lego Game: The Genesis of Visible Life
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Published:September 2008
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Abstract
The passage from microbial unicellular animal and plant life to multicellular life is easy to imagine; it seems so evident that is not discussed in most evolution books. Nevertheless, it required a series of major innovations, all of which had to be acquired by multicellular organisms. This chapter first presents the environmental causes that oriented life towards complexity, towards multicellularity. Then it describes the various stages of cellular association that led to the emergence of multicellularity, and emphasizes that they were not all predetermined, and there is no tendency towards complexity of life. Finally, the chapter considers the very strange parallelism of multicellularity: the fact that diverse, independent lineages of life all adopted multicellular structure and specialization of cells. Is this coincidence a simple convergence of adaptation to a shared lifestyle? Or does it derive from a shared genetic basis that drives evolution in this direction?
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