Biocomplexity Still A Mystery

After every seat in the NCSA auditorium filled up on November 3rd, 2011, students and TAs began lining the walls, seated and standing, to hear Professor Ray Goldstein speak on the evolution of biocomplexity. Goldstein, a professor of Complex Physical Systems at Cambridge University, looked young, determined, and focused as he took the remote clicker from Professor Saintillan of UIUC, the host of the event.

His presentation started off with the big question, the question that had brought all these students and professors to this small auditorium on the edge of campus: Why did single-cell organisms evolve into multicellular organisms? And how did these cells become differentiated?

The idea is that as the total number of cells in an organism rises, so do the number of cell types. So as organisms grow larger, they grow more complex. But why?

As it turns out, they didn't have an answer yet. What Goldstein did present, however, with a significant amount of poise, expertise, and enthusiasm, was his experiments with a eukaryotic species called Volvox Carteri, which evolved from the single-cell Chlamydomas Reinhardtii to become an organized sphere of Chlamydomas Reinhardtii that can move through fluid much faster with so many more flagella paddling. "Think of a slave galley," Goldstein said. "Think of all those rowers. Now Volvox can move that much faster."

They can also turn the organism, moving their flagella in synchrony or asynchrony. However...Volvox has no central nervous system. "Volvox Carteri is like a rowing crew with no cocksun," Goldstein said. The answer turned out to be light; each cell has a photoreceptor. But it still doesn't explain how they stay together, or why.

"The project is in motion," Goldstein said, showing the names of the researchers in his group. "We're getting somewhere. It just might take a while to get there."