Laboratorio de Biología Comparada de Protistas, DBBE, FCEN, Universidad de Buenos Aires
Research Collaborators
Visitacion
Conforti
Ray Goldstein
John Kessler
Rick Michod
Aurora Nedelcu
Volvox Movies
V.barberi hatching
V.carteri mixing 4x
V.carteri mixing 10x
Flagellar whipping
V. carteri rolling
The
best club in the universe....
Current and Future Interests
I am interested in understanding how complex evolutionary units evolved from simpler ones, to which end I investigate the trade-offs that are encountered by higher level units when these are formed. In my research I concentrate on one of the most fundamental transitions for the origin of multicellularity: from colonies of undifferentiated cells to colonies with cells specializing in reproductive and vegetative functions. Various selective pressures can push unicellular organisms to increase in size, but general constraints, such as the decrease in the surface to volume ratio, set an upper limit on cell size. Nevertheless, further increase in size can also be achieved by the aggregation of mitotic products, increasing the number of cells (instead of their size). Natural selection has favored this strategy as proved by the multiple independent origins of colonial and multicellular organisms (e.g., algae). Although a large body size has several benefits (e.g., predation avoidance, a buffered environment within a group), it is also associated with increased costs in terms of the time and energy required to produce a larger organism. Consequently, to maintain positive levels of fitness and allow for further increase in size, the benefits have to be increased and/or the costs have to be reduced. I believe that cell differentiation evolved as a means to deal with the costs associated with the production of large undifferentiated multicellular colonies. I use the volvocalean green algal group as a model system to address this hypothesis and assess the motility costs and opportunities associated with increased size in these aquatic flagellated organisms.
Volvocales Information Project
Available resources and information
for Volvocales research.
Delia Solari
My mother is a painter! Check her
website.
Rodrigo Garcia
My brother in law is also an artist!
Amazing stuff.