Dynamic cell differentiation in multicellularity with specialized cell types

Author:

Gao YuanxiaoORCID,Zapién-Campos RománORCID,Traulsen Arne

Abstract

AbstractThe specialization of cells is a hallmark of complex multicellularity. Cell differentiation enables the emergence of specialized cell types that carry out segregated functions which are previously executed by a multifunctional ancestor cell. Yet, it is still unclear why cell differentiation evolved in the first place, especially for genetically identical cells, exposed to the same life history environment. Stochasticity in gene expression has been proposed to account for cell differentiation. We develop a theoretical model to investigate the effect of dynamic cell differentiation — cells can change their developmental trajectories during a single round of development — on the evolution of their cell differentiation strategy. We found that in small organisms, irreversible differentiation – a cell type gradually losing its cell differentiation capability to produce other cell types – classified based on the differentiation capability at the last cell division, is favoured over other differentiation strategies under dynamic cell differentiation. Dynamic cell differentiation allows a wide range of differentiation strategies, allowing more evolutionary possibilities than static cell differentiation.Author summaryThe differentiation of cells into different branches is a characteristic feature of multicellular organisms. To understand its origin, the mechanism of division of labour was introduced, where cells are specialized at distinct tasks. During the differentiation process, a cell type is usually assumed to produce another cell type with a fixed probability. However, it has been argued that cell differentiation is a dynamic process, where cells possess changing differentiation capabilities during an organism’s development. How does dynamic differentiation impact the evolution of differentiation patterns? Here, we classified the patterns based on cells’ differentiation capability in the last cell division and then investigated their effects on an organism’s growth. We seek the “optimal strategy” which leads to the fastest growth analytically and numerically. Our results show that irreversible differentiation which gradually loses its differentiation capability, is favoured over static differentiation in small organisms. Dynamic differentiation exhibits a more diverse pattern of development than static differentiation, which can lead to novel targets of selection.

Publisher

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

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