ORIGINS: multicellularity

David P. Harrington (dph@mines.uidaho.edu)
Tue, 18 Feb 1997 14:44:46 -0800 (PST)

Some of the simpler animals have a few cells, and they "branch" or divide
to reproduce. So, do their cells, like people's, have the same DNA but
are differentiated? An illustration:

A A
BBBBBBB
A A

If A has a given function, and B has a given function, but they both have
the same DNA, then my hypothesis is that they could not have evolved. The
common text-book idea of the origin of multicellularity is that various
cells developed inter-dependence. Then, they somehow got together. But
if A & B have the same DNA but a different environment, making a different
expression of the DNA, then their whole scenario brakes down, I believe.
Could someone tell me if indeed A & B have the same DNA in some of the
simple multi-cellular creatures?

David Harrington

http://www.mines.uidaho.edu/~dph