Publications

Book

The Evolution of Multicellularity – Mathew D. Herron, Peter L. Conlin, and William C. Ratcliff

This edited volume is an excellent overview of the field, ideal for newcomers or as a reference point for established researchers. You can order it here, or read the unformatted chapters for free here. [Twitter thread]

Here, we list papers that are currently in press/ preprints/ submitted and papers that were published since 2019. For a full list, please refer to the Google Scholar profile of Prof. Ratcliff.

Preprints/Submitted

  • Stoy, K. S., MacGillivray, K. A., Burnetti, A. J., Barrett, C. & Ratcliff, W. C. Multiple pathways to the evolution of positive assortment in aggregative multicellularity. BioRxiv (2025).
  • Pineau, R. M. et al. Mosaic of Somatic Mutations in Earth’s Oldest Living Organism, Pando. BioRxiv (2024). [Bluesky thread]
  • Narayanasamy, N. et al. Metabolically-driven flows enable exponential growth in macroscopic multicellular yeast. BioRxiv (2024). [Twitter thread]
  • Conlin, P. L. et al. Division of labor promotes the entrenchment of multicellularity. BioRxiv (2023). [Twitter thread]
  • Burnetti, A. & Ratcliff, W. The Origin of Phototrophy Reveals the Importance of Priority Effects for Evolutionary Innovation. Preprints (2022).

Published / in press

2025

  • Tong, K. et al. Genome duplication in a long-term multicellularity evolution experiment. Nature639, 691–699 (2025). [Bluesky thread]
  • Stroud, J. T. & Ratcliff, W. C. Long-term studies provide unique insights into evolution. Nature639, 589–601 (2025). [Bluesky thread]
  • Kamerlin, S. C. L. & Ratcliff, W. C. Using AI to prepare for academic interviews – don’t trade authenticity for polish. EMBO reports26, 1189–1190 (2025).
  • Wong, W., Bravo, P., Yunker, P. J., Ratcliff, W. C. & Burnetti, A. J. Oxygen-binding proteins aid oxygen diffusion to enhance fitness of a yeast model of multicellularity. PLOS Biology23, e3002975 (2025). [Bluesky thread]

2024

  • Day, T. C. et al. Morphological Entanglement in Living Systems. Phys. Rev. X14, 011008 (2024). [Twitter thread]
  • Peterson, A., Baskett, C., Ratcliff, W. C. & Burnetti, A. Transforming yeast into a facultative photoheterotroph via expression of vacuolar rhodopsin. Current Biology34, 648-654.e3 (2024). [Twitter thread]
  • Bingham, E. P. & Ratcliff, W. C. A nonadaptive explanation for macroevolutionary patterns in the evolution of complex multicellularity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences121, e2319840121 (2024). [Bluesky thread]
  • Zhang, C., Datta, S., Ratcliff, W. C. & Hammer, B. K. Constitutive expression of the Type VI Secretion System carries no measurable fitness cost in Vibrio cholerae. Ecology and Evolution14, e11081 (2024). [Twitter thread]
  • Montrose, K. et al. Proteostatic tuning underpins the evolution of novel multicellular traits. Science Advances10, eadn2706 (2024). [Twitter thread]
  • Pineau, R. M. et al. Emergence and maintenance of stable coexistence during a long-term multicellular evolution experiment. Nat Ecol Evol 1–11 (2024). [Twitter thread]
  • Nelson, D. R. et al. Macroalgal deep genomics illuminate multiple paths to aquatic, photosynthetic multicellularity. Molecular Plant17, 747–771 (2024).
  • Pineau, R. M. et al. Experimental evolution of multicellularity via cuboidal cell packing in fission yeast. Evolution Letters qrae024 (2024) [Bluesky thread]
  • Stoy, K. S. et al. Adaptive radiation during the evolution of complex multicellularity. Evolutionary Journal of the Linnean Society3, kzae008 (2024).
  • Stoy, K. S. & Ratcliff, W. C. Uncovering the hidden complexity of multicellular magnetotactic bacteria. PLOS Biology 22, e3002695 (2024).

2023

  • Bozdag, G. O. et al. De novo evolution of macroscopic multicellularity. Nature 1–8 (2023). [Twitter thread]
  • Ratcliff, W. C. The science of storytelling: the David Attenborough style of scientific presentation. Trends in Molecular Medicine29, 675–677 (2023).
  • Conlin, P.L. and W.C. Ratcliff. Evolution: Understanding the origins of facultative multicellular life cycles. Current Biology. 33, R356–R358 (2023).
  • Zamani-Dahaj, S. A. et al. Spontaneous Emergence of Multicellular Heritability. Genes14, 1635 (2023). [Twitter thread]
  • Pentz, J. T. et al. Evolutionary consequences of nascent multicellular life cycles. eLife12, e84336 (2023). [Twitter thread]
  • MacGillivray, K. A. et al. Trade-offs constrain adaptive pathways to type VI secretion system survival. iScience26, 108332 (2023). [Twitter thread]

2022

  • Tong, K., Bozdag, G. O. & Ratcliff, W. C. Selective drivers of simple multicellularity. Current Opinion in Microbiology 67, 102141 (2022). [Twitter thread]
  • Ratcliff, W. C. The Biological Robots Are Coming! But Note They Have Been Here for ∼3.5 Billion Years. GEN Biotechnology 1, 26–27 (2022).
  • Day, T. C. et al. Varied solutions to multicellularity: The biophysical and evolutionary consequences of diverse intercellular bonds. Biophysics Reviews 3, 021305 (2022).
  • Day, T. C. et al. Cellular organization in lab-evolved and extant multicellular species obeys a maximum entropy law. eLife 11, e72707 (2022). [Twitter thread]
  • Datta, S. & Ratcliff, W. C. Illuminating a new path to multicellularity. eLife 11, e83296 (2022).
  • Burnetti, A. & Ratcliff, W. C. Experimental evolution is not just for model organisms. PLOS Biology 20, e3001587 (2022).

2021

  • Márquez-Zacarías, P. et al. Evolution of Cellular Differentiation: From Hypotheses to Models. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 36, 49–60 (2021).
  • Márquez-Zacarías, P., Conlin, P. L., Tong, K., Pentz, J. T. & Ratcliff, W. C. Why have aggregative multicellular organisms stayed simple? Curr Genet 67, 871–876 (2021).
  • Libby, E. & Ratcliff, W. C. Lichens and microbial syntrophies offer models for an interdependent route to multicellularity. The Lichenologist 53, 283–290 (2021).
  • Isaksson, H., Conlin, P. L., Kerr, B., Ratcliff, W. C. & Libby, E. The Consequences of Budding versus Binary Fission on Adaptation and Aging in Primitive Multicellularity. Genes 12, 661 (2021).
  • Bozdag, G. O., Libby, E., Pineau, R., Reinhard, C. T. & Ratcliff, W. C. Oxygen suppression of macroscopic multicellularity. Nat Commun 12, 2838 (2021). [Twitter thread]

2020

  • Yanni, D. et al. Topological constraints in early multicellularity favor reproductive division of labor. eLife 9, e54348 (2020).
  • Pentz, J. T. et al. Ecological Advantages and Evolutionary Limitations of Aggregative Multicellular Development. Current Biology 30, 4155-4164.e6 (2020).

2019

  • Yanni, D., Márquez-Zacarías, P., Yunker, P. J. & Ratcliff, W. C. Drivers of Spatial Structure in Social Microbial Communities. Current Biology 29, R545–R550 (2019).
  • Tan, J. et al. Copper oxide nanoparticles promote the evolution of multicellularity in yeast. Nanotoxicology 13, 597–605 (2019).
  • Libby, E. & Ratcliff, W. C. Shortsighted Evolution Constrains the Efficacy of Long-Term Bet Hedging. The American Naturalist 193, 409–423 (2019).
  • Herron, M. D. et al. De novo origins of multicellularity in response to predation. Sci Rep 9, 2328 (2019).
  • Gulli, J. G., Herron, M. D. & Ratcliff, W. C. Evolution of altruistic cooperation among nascent multicellular organisms. Evolution 73, 1012–1024 (2019).