Sharing our new paper, led by Dominic Devlin, now in Shuji Ishihara’s group at UTokyo. We show that 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗽𝗵𝗼𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗰 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗶𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 can evolve as a by-product of complex morphogenesis, even without direct selection for reproducibility. doi.org/10.1371/jour...

Cell differentiation can underpin the reproducibility of morphogenesis

Author summary An astounding property of multicellular animals is the reliable formation of morphological structures, such as organs and limbs. How does this reliable formation, termed reproducibility...

doi.org

Belatedly sharing an opinion piece with Kuni Kaneko. We propose that 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗱𝗼𝗴𝗺𝗮 is one instance of a more general pattern that has evolved repeatedly across levels of biological organisation. doi.org/10.1098/rstb...

Generalizing the central dogma as a cross-hierarchical principle of biology

Abstract. The central dogma of molecular biology, as originally proposed by Crick, asserts that information passed into protein cannot flow back out. This

doi.org

I gave a talk on the 𝐞𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐝𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐫 at Cambridge University @tlmcambridge.bsky.social. Our model predicts that this division evolves when relatedness is sufficiently low, contrary to textbook explanations. Watch here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMrN... #evolution #compbio

Nobuto Takeuchi - Cheater-driven evolution of reproductive division of labour

YouTube video by Theory of Living Matter Group - Cambridge U

youtube.com

How did life’s template-catalyst division evolve? Fu and @nobuto.bsky.social show this can evolve without cells in 2D space through symmetry breaking. Evolution is driven by high diffusion rates, protecting against cheaters/parasites: academic.oup.com/jeb/advance-...

Evolution of the division of labour between templates and catalysts in spatial replicator models

Abstract. The central dogma of molecular biology can be conceptualised as the division of labour between templates and catalysts, where templates transmit

academic.oup.com

Our new modelling paper is out! It shows that Black Queen dynamics can accelerate the evolution of new gene functions by, say, 10-fold. Here is the idea: when gene products are shared btw cells, cheaters don't have to maintain their corresponding genes, which can freely explore sequence space.

My PhD student Dominic Devlin's first paper was published. We review recent work suggesting that germline-soma separation is widespread among metazoans beyond insects & vertebrates. Germline-soma separation is distinct from early germline segregation, although they are often conflated.