Illustration of a protein from a single-celled organism called Haloferax volcanii
FRANCISCO J. ENGUITA/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
Compressing a type of single-celled microorganism makes it develop into a multicellular tissue-like structure with different cell types. This suggests that pressure can help drive key evolutionary leaps, such as the emergence of multicellularity.
The organism is a type of archaea, one of the three domains of life, along with bacteria and eukaryotes. The eukaryotes are organisms with cells containing a nucleus and include animals and plants. Archaea lack a nucleus, so were originally mistaken for bacteria, but are now thought to share…