A new study published in the journal Nature Communications has discovered how altered protein folding drives multicellular evolution. Multicellular life is the dominant form of life on Earth and is characterized by complex organisms composed of many cells. However, the evolutionary origins of multicellularity remain poorly understood.

One of the key challenges in understanding the evolution of multicellularity is explaining how cells first became able to cooperate to form multicellular structures. One possibility is that changes in protein folding played a role. Proteins are the molecules that carry out most of the functions in cells and their folding is essential for their function. If changes in protein folding could lead to changes in cell-cell interactions, this could provide a mechanism for the evolution of multicellularity.

To investigate this possibility, researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, used computer simulations to study how changes in protein folding could affect cell-cell interactions. They found that small changes in the folding of a protein called cadherin could lead to significant changes in cell-cell adhesion. Cadherins are proteins that are located on the cell surface and are responsible for holding cells together.

The researchers then used experimental assays to confirm that changes in cadherin folding could lead to changes in cell-cell adhesion. They found that cells expressing a mutant cadherin that was more likely to fold into a conformation that promotes adhesion were more likely to form multicellular structures.

This study provides evidence that changes in protein folding could have played a role in the evolution of multicellularity. The findings suggest that the ability of cells to cooperate and form multicellular structures may have arisen through a series of small changes in protein folding that led to changes in cell-cell interactions.