Department of Mathematics, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA.
Phys Rev Lett. 2013 May 31;110(22):228104. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.110.228104.
The flagellated protozoan Salpingoeca rosetta is one of the closest relatives of multicellular animals. Unicellular S. rosetta can be induced to form multicellular colonies, but colonies swim more slowly than individual cells so the advantages conferred by colony formation are uncertain. Here we use theoretical models to show that hydrodynamic cooperation between cells can increase the fluid supply to the colony, an important predictor of feeding rate. Our results suggest that hydrodynamic benefits may have been an important selective factor in the evolution of early multicellular animals.
有鞭毛的原生动物罗氏腮尾虫是多细胞动物最接近的亲属之一。单细胞罗氏腮尾虫可以被诱导形成多细胞群体，但群体游动速度比单个细胞慢，因此群体形成带来的优势尚不确定。在这里，我们使用理论模型表明，细胞之间的流体动力合作可以增加向群体供应的流体，这是摄食率的一个重要预测指标。我们的研究结果表明，流体动力优势可能是早期多细胞动物进化的一个重要选择因素。
