Researchers in MCB Professor of Genetics Genomics and Development and Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Investigator Nicole King's lab have found a new species of Choanoflagellate, a small single-celled protist, found in both fresh and ocean waters.
An HHMI article published yesterday explains this species clusters together and either "inverts from a ball of cells with tail-like flagella pointing out to a cup-shaped form with flagella inside. The species may use the ball form for swimming and the cup form for feeding." This coordinated behavior has never been observed in choanoflagellates.
Read the HHMI article here.