Single Cells Evolve Large Multicellular Forms in Just Two Years

upstart writes:

Single Cells Evolve Large Multicellular Forms in Just Two Years:

[William C.] Ratcliff wondered what would happen to snowflake yeast grown that long - would they eventually achieve large size? Would that lead to differentiation?

The snowflake yeast achieved multicellularity readily, but their clumps remained microscopic, no matter what Ratcliff tried. For years he failed to make progress, and he credits Ozan Bozda, a research scientist at Georgia Tech who was a postdoc in Ratcliff's lab, with breaking through the wall.

[...] Oxygen can be very helpful for living things, because cells can use it to break down sugars for massive energy payouts. When oxygen isn't present, cells must ferment sugars instead, for a smaller usable yield. All along, Ratcliff had been growing yeast with oxygen. Bozda suggested growing some cultures without it.

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