Prototaxites represents the first giant organisms to live on the terrestrial surface, reaching sizes of 8 metres in the Early Devonian.

It was an extinct lineage of #multicellular terrestrial #eukaryotes.

Assignments to groups of multicellular algae or land plants have been repeatedly ruled out leaving two major alternatives: #Prototaxites was either a #fungus or a now entirely extinct lineage.

The latter hypothesis seems more plausible based on nrw evidence.

https://astrobiology.com/2025/03/ancient-prototaxites-dont-belong-to-any-living-lineage-possibly-a-distinct-branch-of-multicellular-earth-life.html

How did early #multicellular organisms exploit rising O2 levels? By expressing animal O2-binding proteins in snowflake yeast, this study shows that myoglobins & myohemerythrins circumvent anatomical limits to O2 diffusion in multicellular organisms #plosbiology https://plos.io/3Ejt16N

Mysterious New Organism Found in Mono Lake Could Rewrite the History of Life
https://scitechdaily.com/mysterious-new-organism-found-in-mono-lake-could-rewrite-the-history-of-life/ #biology #choanoflagellate #MonoLake #multicellular #colonial

How do #phages impact #Streptomyces physiology? @BuryMone &co show that induction of the #prophage 'Samy' enhances dispersal of #multicellular aggregates of S. ambofaciens #bacteria in response to stress, likely promoting lineage propagation #PLOSBiology https://plos.io/3LDRNib

Once upon a time, long ago, the world was encased in #ice. Hundreds of millions of years ago, glaciers and sea ice covered the globe. The most extreme scenarios suggest a layer of ice several meters thick even at the equator.

But when seawater gets cold, it gets viscous.

This fact could explain how single-celled ocean creatures became #multicellular when the planet was frozen during “Snowball Earth,” according to experiments.

#evolution #biology https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-physics-of-cold-water-may-have-jump-started-complex-life-20240724/

.@KaylaStoy & @wc_ratcliff explore a #PLOSBiology study which shows that #multicellular #magnetotactic #bacteria form obligately multicellular consortia of genetically diverse cells with rudimentary division of labor Paper: https://plos.io/460zcGC Primer: https://plos.io/3LnqVD1

#Multicellular #magnetotactic #bacteria (MMB) have no unicellular stage. @SchaibleGeorge @environmicrobio &co's study of MMB consortia shows that individual cells are not genetically identical & have significant metabolic differentiation #PLOSBiology https://plos.io/460zcGC

Did Earth’s Multicellular Life Depend on Plate Tectonics?
https://www.universetoday.com/167049/did-earths-multicellular-life-depend-on-plate-tectonics/ #biology #geology #tectonics #multicellular #FermiParadox #SingleLid #Biogeodynamics

Prokaryotic single-celled organisms, the ancestors of modern-day #bacteria and #archaea, are the most ancient form of #life on our #planet, first appearing roughly 3.5 billion years ago.

The first #eukaryotic cells appeared around 1–1.5 billion years later.

However, eukaryotic cells have since diversified into many complex, #multicellular organisms that we see around us every day—#fungi, #plants and #animals—while prokaryotes have remained decidedly unicellular.

https://phys.org/news/2024-03-eukaryotes-bacteria-evolved-complex-multicellularity.html#google_vignette

New study discovers how altered #protein_folding drives #multicellular #evolution.

#yeast #Hsp90

https://phys.org/news/2024-03-protein-multicellular-evolution.html

New study discovers how altered protein folding drives multicellular evolution https://phys.org/news/2024-03-protein-multicellular-evolution.html

Proteostatic tuning underpins the #evolution of novel #multicellular traits https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adn2706

"By demonstrating the effect of protein-level changes in facilitating evolutionary change, this work highlights why knowledge of the genetic code in itself does not provide a full understanding of how organisms acquire adaptive behaviors."

#Fossils show that #eukaryotes first acquired #multicellularity 1.63 billion years ago
https://phys.org/news/2024-01-north-china-fossils-eukaryotes-multicellularity.html

1.63-billion-year-old #multicellular eukaryotes from the #Chuanlinggou Formation https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adk3208

"#Qingshania was most likely #photosynthetic #algae, probably belonging to the extinct stem group of #Archaeplastids (a major group consisting of red algae, green algae and land #plants, as well as #glaucophytes)"

New research shows the complexity of #bacterial circadian clocks
https://phys.org/news/2023-08-complexity-bacterial-circadian-clocks.html

The #CircadianClock of the #bacterium B. subtilis evokes properties of complex, #multicellular circadian systems https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adh1308 by Francesca Sartor et al.

"The circadian clock in this #microbe is pervasive: we see it regulating several #genes, and a range of different behaviors."

The earliest #animal likely used #chemical signaling to #evolve from a single cell to a #multicellular organism. The findings provide new information about how one of the biggest transitions in the history of life on #earth likely occurred.
#Chemistry #Biology #Microbiology #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2023/04/bio04242302.html

The #evolution of #multicellular life has played a pivotal role in shaping #biological diversity. However, we have up until now known surprisingly little about the natural #environmental conditions that favor the formation of multicellular groups.
#EarthScience #Biology #Microbiology #sflorg
https://www.sflorg.com/2023/04/es04242301.html