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SUMMARY:Have Plastic Responses to the Environment Shaped the Repeated Evolu
 tion of Differentiated Multicellularity?
LOCATION:Biology 136
TZID:America/Denver
DTSTART:20251007T160000
UID:2026-05-03-17-21-57@natsci.colostate.edu
DTSTAMP:20260503T172157
Description:You\\'re invited! Join us for a thought-provoking seminar hoste
 d by the Biology Department at Colorado State University. Dr. Dinah Daviso
 n\, Postdoctoral Scholar at Augusta University\, will present \"Have Plast
 ic Responses to the Environment Shaped the Repeated Evolution of Different
 iated Multicellularity?\"\n\nExplore how environmental factors may drive t
 he evolution of multicellular complexity.\n\n 	Date: Tuesday\, October 7\,
  2025\n 	Time: 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM\n 	Location: Biology Room 136\n\nVisit 
 our website for more information on our seminars and follow us on social 
 media for more announcements from Biology.\n\n 	Instagram: @csubio\n 	Twit
 ter/X: @csubiology\n 	Facebook: Department of Biology at Colorado State Un
 iversity\n\nAbstract\n\nThe transition to multicellularity has occurred re
 peatedly across the tree of life\, giving rise to diversity of complex lif
 e we see today. Multicellularity has evolved dozens of times within the gr
 een algae alone. We examine whether this repeated transition may have been
  facilitated by plastic responses to the environment that were later stabi
 lized by developmental-genetic changes. We use the volvocine green algae a
 s a model system and focus on two key stages in the transition to multicel
 lular organization: group formation and cellular specialization. We examin
 e facultative group formation in response to the presence of predators in 
 Chlamydomonas reinhardtii\, a unicellular species that is closely related 
 to multicellular volvocine algae. We identify molecular mechanisms regulat
 ing aggregative group formation in Chlamydomonas and propose that the evol
 ution of multicellularity in the green algae may have involved the co-opti
 on of these mechanisms. \n\n\nNext\, we examine a multicellular volvocine 
 algae species\, Eudorina\, which has been historically characterized as un
 differentiated but can develop a small proportion of plastic somatic cells
  following exposure to cold shock. We exposed Eudorina cultures to repeate
 d cold shock and characterized the differentiation status of our lines mor
 e than 30 generations after the cessation of the cold treatment. We found 
 that differentiation evolved rapidly\, with all lines showing changes in t
 he regulation of somatic cell development and two lines evolving obligate 
 somatic cells. We characterized the selection dynamics that shaped this ra
 pid evolution and found that colonies with somatic cells were more likely 
 to survive cold shock. Our results demonstrate that selection can rapidly 
 drive the repeated transition to differentiated multicellularity via the s
 tabilization of a plastic response.\n\n\n 4:00 pm
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