Game theoretic treatments for the differentiation of functional roles in the transition to multicellularity

Abstract

Multicellular organisms are characterised by role specialisation, brought about by the epigenetic differentiation of their constituent parts. Conventional game theoretic studies of cooperation do not account for this division of labour, nor do they allow for the possibility of the plastic expression of phenotype. We address these issues by extending the notion of cooperative dilemmas to account for such interaction in which heterogeneous roles are advantageous and present an extended dynamical model of selection that allows for the possibility of conditional expression of phenotype. We use these models to investigate systematically when selection will favour an adaptive diversification of roles. We argue that such extensions to models and concepts are necessary to understand the origins of multicellularity and development.