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Can the Evolution of Multicellularity Be Anticipated in the Exploration of the Solar System?

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Life on Earth and other Planetary Bodies

Part of the book series: Cellular Origin, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology ((COLE,volume 24))

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Abstract

Understanding the evolution of development in multicellular organisms is one of the most challenging problems in biology, along with the still-to-be understood origin of life on Earth (and in the universe), the central core of the modern science of astrobiology. One giant step in this direction has been taken by John Tyler Bonner (Bonner, 2001). He focused on a significant transition in the evolution of the Earth biota (Maynard Smith and Szathmáry, 1995, Ch. 12), when development was not complicated by the billion years that followed the late Proterozoic, at a time when the Earth had witnessed over two billion years of microorganism evolution. Some progress is possible with the development of a model for the origin of multicellular organisms based on the idea that it had a selective advantage to be multicellular; as in poor environments, micro­organisms could use each other as nourishment to survive (Kerszberg and Wolpert, 1998).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. IST–Austria (Institute of Science and Technology Austria), Am Campus 1, A–3400, Klosterneuburg, Austria

    Harold P. de Vladar

  2. Fundación Instituto de Estudios Avanzados–IDEA, Caracas, 1015A, República Bolivariana de Venezuela

    Harold P. de Vladar & Julian Chela-Flores

  3. The Abdus Salam ICTP, Strada Costiera 11, 34014, Trieste, Italy

    Julian Chela-Flores

Authors
  1. Harold P. de Vladar
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  2. Julian Chela-Flores
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Correspondence to Harold P. de Vladar .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Geophysik, Astrophysik und Meteorologie, Universität Graz, Universitätsplatz 5, Graz, 8010, Austria

    Arnold Hanslmeier

  2. , Physical Geology and Global Cycles, Institute of Applied Geosciences (IAG), Schnittspahnstraße 9, Darmstadt, 64287, Germany

    Stephan Kempe

  3. University of Jerusalem, Mevo Hadas 20, Efrat, 90435, Israel

    Joseph Seckbach

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de Vladar, H.P., Chela-Flores, J. (2012). Can the Evolution of Multicellularity Be Anticipated in the Exploration of the Solar System?. In: Hanslmeier, A., Kempe, S., Seckbach, J. (eds) Life on Earth and other Planetary Bodies. Cellular Origin, Life in Extreme Habitats and Astrobiology, vol 24. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4966-5_22

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