Fellow Project
2024–2025
Major Evolutionary Transitions A Paradigm Shift
Project by
Major evolutionary transitions remain one of biology's “final frontiers.” However, more than a decade of comparative genomics, experimental research, and theoretical studies—spanning multicellular and eusocial transitions, as well as the transition to culture (albeit to a lesser extent)—has brought the field to the brink of a paradigm shift.
For decades, the prevailing view has been that evolution began with a simple ancestor, which could only achieve complexity after evolving cooperation and mechanisms to control cheating. This, in turn, enabled the development of division of labor, cell differentiation, functional integration, and the emergence of a new unit, individual, or superorganism.
Now, emerging evidence is challenging this long-held perspective. Across evolutionary transitions, empirical data increasingly suggest that the ancestral starting point was far more complex than previously assumed. This ancestor likely possessed a diverse life cycle, at least one group-based stage, and an inherent ability to rapidly generate additional complexity during that group stage.
Yet, a paradigm shift requires more than just evidence—it demands a conceptual framework that synthesizes these observations and outlines the critical steps leading to the emergence of the first multicellular individual or eusocial colony. Developing such a framework is the central goal of this Corina's fellowship project at the Collegium.
