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Harnessing hypoxia as an evolutionary driver of complex multicellularity : Hypoxia drives multicellular evolution

Hammarlund, Emma U. LU (2020) In Interface Focus 10(4).
Abstract

Animal tissue requires low-oxygen conditions for its maintenance. The need for low-oxygen conditions contrasts with the idea of an evolutionary leap in animal diversity as a result of expanding oxic conditions. To accommodate tissue renewal at oxic conditions, however, vertebrate animals and vascular plants demonstrate abilities to access hypoxia. Here, I argue that multicellular organisms sustain oxic conditions first after internalizing hypoxic conditions. The 'harnessing' of hypoxia has allowed multicellular evolution to leave niches that were stable in terms of oxygen concentrations for those where oxygen fluctuates. Since oxygen fluctuates in most settings on Earth's surface, the ancestral niche would have been a deep marine... (More)

Animal tissue requires low-oxygen conditions for its maintenance. The need for low-oxygen conditions contrasts with the idea of an evolutionary leap in animal diversity as a result of expanding oxic conditions. To accommodate tissue renewal at oxic conditions, however, vertebrate animals and vascular plants demonstrate abilities to access hypoxia. Here, I argue that multicellular organisms sustain oxic conditions first after internalizing hypoxic conditions. The 'harnessing' of hypoxia has allowed multicellular evolution to leave niches that were stable in terms of oxygen concentrations for those where oxygen fluctuates. Since oxygen fluctuates in most settings on Earth's surface, the ancestral niche would have been a deep marine setting. The hypothesis that 'large life' depends on harnessing hypoxia is illustrated in the context of conditions that promote the immature cell phenotype (stemness) in animal physiology and tumour biology and offers one explanation for the general rarity of diverse multicellularity over most of Earth's history.

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Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
complex multicellularity, evolution, hypoxia, stem cell, tissue renewal
in
Interface Focus
volume
10
issue
4
article number
20190101
publisher
Royal Society Publishing
external identifiers
  • scopus:85089739311
ISSN
2042-8898
DOI
10.1098/rsfs.2019.0101rsfs20190101
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
9bba7825-709f-46a3-ab67-645894a35924
date added to LUP
2020-09-08 12:13:48
date last changed
2022-04-19 00:34:09
@article{9bba7825-709f-46a3-ab67-645894a35924,
  abstract     = {{<p>Animal tissue requires low-oxygen conditions for its maintenance. The need for low-oxygen conditions contrasts with the idea of an evolutionary leap in animal diversity as a result of expanding oxic conditions. To accommodate tissue renewal at oxic conditions, however, vertebrate animals and vascular plants demonstrate abilities to access hypoxia. Here, I argue that multicellular organisms sustain oxic conditions first after internalizing hypoxic conditions. The 'harnessing' of hypoxia has allowed multicellular evolution to leave niches that were stable in terms of oxygen concentrations for those where oxygen fluctuates. Since oxygen fluctuates in most settings on Earth's surface, the ancestral niche would have been a deep marine setting. The hypothesis that 'large life' depends on harnessing hypoxia is illustrated in the context of conditions that promote the immature cell phenotype (stemness) in animal physiology and tumour biology and offers one explanation for the general rarity of diverse multicellularity over most of Earth's history. </p>}},
  author       = {{Hammarlund, Emma U.}},
  issn         = {{2042-8898}},
  keywords     = {{complex multicellularity; evolution; hypoxia; stem cell; tissue renewal}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{4}},
  publisher    = {{Royal Society Publishing}},
  series       = {{Interface Focus}},
  title        = {{Harnessing hypoxia as an evolutionary driver of complex multicellularity : Hypoxia drives multicellular evolution}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsfs.2019.0101rsfs20190101}},
  doi          = {{10.1098/rsfs.2019.0101rsfs20190101}},
  volume       = {{10}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}