Since first starting to study choanoflagellates as a post-doc, King has been trying to figure out why some choanoflagellates live their lives as single cells, while others form colonies. After years of dead ends, King and undergraduate researcher Richard Zuzow discovered accidentally that a previously unknown species of bacteria stimulates one choanoflagellate, Salpingoeca rosetta, to form colonies. Because bacteria were abundant in the oceans when animals first evolved, the finding that bacteria influence choano colony formation means it is plausible that bacteria also helped to stimulate multicellularity in the ancestors of animals.
MORE: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121024101758.htm
See also...
Evolution of New Genes Captured
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/10/121022145340.htm
