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Nature 446, 616 (5 April 2007) | doi:10.1038/446616a; Published online 4 April 2007

Connections Unity from conflict

Paul B. Rainey1

  1. Paul B. Rainey is at the School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, New Zealand.

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Could the evolution of multicellular life have been fuelled by conflict among selective forces acting at different levels of organization?

The transition from unicellular to multicellular life brought with it division of labour, development and a panoply of animal and plant forms. But despite its pivotal role in the history of life, the evolution of multicellularity is poorly understood.