Скачать или смотреть New study reveals the high energy cost of multicellularity.

Multicellular life, like Daphnia, requires significantly more energy than single-celled organisms due to complex structures like tissues and increased size. This means higher ATP production and oxygen consumption. Daphnia need 30-50 times more oxygen per body mass than single-celled organisms.

Larger single-celled organisms become more efficient, but multicellular organisms need more energy per unit of biomass as they grow, creating a metabolic "speed limit."

Despite the high energy cost, multicellularity offers evolutionary advantages like better food access and predator avoidance.

This research sheds light on the evolution of complex life and suggests universal energy constraints. Future work aims to extend these findings to plants and fungi, further enriching our understanding of multicellular life.