Genetic heterogeneity and homogeneity are associated with distinct sets of adaptive advantages and bottlenecks, both in developmental biology and population genetics. Whereas populations of individuals are usually genetically heterogeneous, most multicellular metazoans are genetically homogeneous. Observing that resource scarcity fuels genetic heterogeneity in populations, we propose that monoclonal development is compatible with the resource‐rich and stable internal environments that complex multicellular bodies offer. In turn, polyclonal development persists in tumors and in certain metazoans, both exhibiting a closer dependence on external resources. This eco‐evo‐devo approach also suggests that multicellularity may originally have emerged through polyclonal development in early metazoans, because of their reduced shielding from environmental fluctuations.

中文翻译：

---

资源可用性是否有助于确定通往多细胞性的进化途径？

遗传异质性和同质性与发育生物学和种群遗传学中​​不同的适应性优势和瓶颈相关。尽管个体群体通常在遗传上是异质的，但是大多数多细胞后生动物在遗传上是同质的。观察到资源稀缺加剧了群体的遗传异质性，我们建议单克隆开发与复杂的多细胞体提供的资源丰富且稳定的内部环境兼容。反过来，多克隆发育在肿瘤和某些后生动物中持续存在，两者都显示出对外部资源的更紧密的依赖性。这种生态进化的方法还表明，多细胞性最初可能是通过早期后生动物的多克隆发育而出现的，