Life-cycle-coupled evolution of mitosis in close relatives of animals. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38778110/)

These scientists wanted to understand how different organisms, like animals and fungi, divide their cells during cell division. They studied a group of organisms called Ichthyosporea, which are close relatives of animals and fungi. These organisms can either have a closed mitosis, like fungi, or an open mitosis, like animals.

To figure out why these organisms evolved different ways of dividing their cells, the scientists looked at their genes and used powerful microscopes to look at their cells up close. They found that organisms with many nuclei tend to have a closed mitosis, while those with only one nucleus have an open mitosis.

This study helps us understand why different organisms have different ways of dividing their cells, and how their evolutionary history has shaped these processes.

Shah H., Olivetta M., Bhickta C., Ronchi P., Trupinic M., Tromer EC., Tolic IM., Schwab Y., Dudin O., Dey G. Life-cycle-coupled evolution of mitosis in close relatives of animals. Nature. 2024 May 22. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07430-z.