美国普罗维登斯学院John H. Costello团队研究了单细胞纤毛虫中多细胞样群体组织的协同流体动力学。2025年3月31日出版的《自然—物理学》杂志发表了这项成果。

许多单细胞生物既表现出孤立存在，也表现出群体存在。向多细胞化迈出的重要一步是形成单细胞生物群落，这与增强营养吸收等益处有关。然而，有利于单个细胞聚集成更复杂菌落的最初驱动因素尚不清楚。

研究组表明，邻近纤毛虫之间的流体动力学耦合导致邻近纤毛虫的摄食流更快，因此动态群落中的个体比单独的个体具有更强的平均摄食流。个体共同作用产生的流动速度更高，因此可以比个体单独行动获得更广泛的猎物资源。

此外，研究组发现累积的喂养益处通常是不对称的：虽然所有个体都从共同行动中受益，但孤独电流较慢的个体比电流较快的个体从合作中获益更多。结果发现，简单单细胞生物中的群体组织对其所有成员都有益。这为有利于多细胞组织早期进化的选择力提供了基本的见解。

附：英文原文

Title: Cooperative hydrodynamics accompany multicellular-like colonial organization in the unicellular ciliate Stentor

Author: Shekhar, Shashank, Guo, Hanliang, Colin, Sean P., Marshall, Wallace, Kanso, Eva, Costello, John H.

Issue&Volume: 2025-03-31

Abstract: Many single-celled organisms exhibit both solitary and colonial existence. An important step towards multicellularity, which is associated with benefits such as enhanced nutrient uptake, was the formation of colonies of unicellular organisms. However, the initial drivers that favoured individual cells aggregating into more complex colonies are less clear. Here we show that hydrodynamic coupling between proximate neighbours results in faster feeding flows for neighbouring ciliates, such that individuals within a dynamic colony have stronger average feeding flows than solitary individuals. Flows generated by individuals acting together reach higher velocities, thus allowing access to a wider range of prey resources than individuals acting on their own. Moreover, we find that accrued feeding benefits are typically asymmetric: whereas all individuals benefit from acting together, those with slower solitary currents gain more from partnering than those with faster currents. We find that colonial organization in simple unicellular organisms is beneficial for all its members. This provides fundamental insights into the selective forces favouring the early evolution of multicellular organization.

DOI: 10.1038/s41567-025-02787-y

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41567-025-02787-y