The evolution of individuality

The held works cite Buss (1987) as a foundational treatment of the evolution of individuality and the origin of multicellularity. Watson et al. list it among works on major evolutionary transitions, and cite it for the germ-line sequestration and population bottleneck that suppress cell-level competition and raise relatedness within the collective. Krakauer et al. include it among definitions of individuality as a unit of selection. Newman cites it for the suppression of intercellular conflict and alignment of fitness.

the origin of multicellularity (in most cases) involves the evolution of a population bottleneck and sequestration of the germ line that creates high-relatedness among particles

Watson RA, Mills R, Buckley CL, Kouvaris K…, 2016 · Evolutionary Connectionism: Algorithmic Principles Underlying the… · open at passage 82

(4) as a unit of selection and evolutionary change (Buss 1987; Hughes 1990; Szathmáry and Smith 1997; Callcott and Sterelny 2011).

Krakauer D, Bertschinger N, Olbrich E, Flack JC…, 2020 · The information theory of individuality · open at passage 9

the suppression of potential intercellular conflicts of genetically heterogenous cells leading to a “unicellular bottleneck” in development

Newman SA, 2019 · Inherency of Form and Function in Animal Development and Evolution · open at passage 4