The role of geometry in the evolution of early multicellularity

• Grant number: 22/06202-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Master's degree
• Start date: September 01, 2022
• End date: February 28, 2023
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Ecology - Theoretical Ecology
• Principal Investigator: Ricardo Martinez Garcia
• Grantee: Daniel Cardoso Pereira Jorge
• Supervisor: Corina Elena Tarnita
• Host Institution: Instituto de Física Teórica (IFT). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Princeton University, United States
• Associated to the scholarship: 20/15643-8 - Aggregation patterns of living organisms: connecting mathematical modeling to experimental data, BP.MS

Abstract

Starting from a unicellular ancestor, the evolution of multicellularity allowed nature to generate a whole new set of complex organisms on earth. This evolutionary revolution hasn't happened only once but multiple times across life history, and in markedly different ecologies. The result of this recurrent evolution of multicellularity through time is the diversity in shapes and sizes of those organisms. In fact, the geometry of a multicellular organism is crucial in determining how each cell experiences the costs and benefits of multicellularity. The fact that many different shapes originated through a variety of selective pressures makes us wonder about the interplay between geometry and the evolution of early multicellularity. In today's multicellular organisms, geometry is known to have a major influence on their survival features. However, little is known about the role of the geometry of the organisms in the origins of multicellularity. This is because the shapes and properties of the multicellular ancestors have been lost to time, as they originated over 200 million years ago and have already undergone extinction. In spite of the lack of available information, we are still able to investigate questions regarding the origins of multicellularity with theoretical tools. In this project, we propose a mathematical model to systematically explore the interplay between geometry and the evolution of early multicellular organisms. The model follows a bottom-up approach, as we let the geometry and its resulting effects emerge out of fundamental ecological and biophysical mechanisms. This methodology enables us to investigate the underlying consequences of geometry in the origins of multicellularity without prior expectation. The original results that come from the execution of this project would be of great significance to the scientific community, enabling us to further understand this major transition in the history of life. (AU)