GENES are famously selfish, but they can also be sweetly cooperative. Now for the first time a gene for altruism has been discovered that smooths the cooperation necessary for cells to live together.
The gene, called regA, helps a unicellular green alga survive a hostile environment and also helps cells in a related, multicelled alga cooperate. The research provides insight into how unicellular organisms might originally have developed into multicelled organisms, and into the genetic basis of social behaviour.
Volvox carteri is a green alga made up of about 2000 small cells arranged in a ball, and 16 much…
