National Human Genome Research Institute | National Institutes of Health U.S. Department of Health and Human Services |
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Origins of Multicellularity
Initiative RationaleThe most basic aspects of human development and genetic structures can be mapped back to the common single-celled ancestors that animals shared with fungi. How did multicellularity evolve? What are the genes and gene families associated with the advent of multicellularity? How does this compare between two different major clades that underwent this transition (animals and fungi)? The comparison of these organisms to protists will provide the most complete picture of basic developmental mechanisms. Selected divergent fungal, animal, and protest genomes will be sequenced at high coverage for the purpose of comparative analysis. The organisms selected for sequencing will fill crucial gaps in the knowledge of animal and fungal evolution. A complete rationale for this initiative is available at
Animals and Fungi:
Common Origin, But Independent Approaches to Multicellularity ![]() Active Sequencing Projects
![]() Program ContactsAdam Felsenfeld, Ph.D. Jane Peterson, Ph.D. To view the PDF on this page, you will need Adobe Reader. ![]() Last Reviewed: January 29, 2009 |