Multicellular Cooperation Curbs Cheating

The paper, Experimental evolution reveals that high relatedness protects multicellular cooperation from cheaters by E. Bastiaans et al, is presented. Genetic similarity among cells is probably an important factor for successful multicellularity, as suggested by studies of varying relatedness among the fruiting bodies of myxobacteria or Dictyostelium -- which form by aggregation of cells, not by clonal expansion from a single cell. That work showed cheating can increase with decreased relatedness , but in these models it has not been possible to make comparisons in which relatedness is the only variable.