The end to being single – for green algae

Bacterial marginolactones lead to the aggregation of algal cells to gloeocapsoids

11/16/2021 | by Christine Vogler

Marginolactones – natural products from soil bacteria – trigger the formation of a previously unknown multicellular state for the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, which usually is unicellular. The emergence of multicellular organisms represents an essential step in the development of animals and plants. But how did unicellular organisms become permanently multicellular? A possible piece of the puzzle of these complex processes has now been deciphered by a research team from Jena and Leipzig.