Key Invariants in the Evolution of Sociality Across Taxa

Elucidating the evolutionary origins of social behavior remains a major challenge due to the complexity of social systems across taxa. Here, we examine social behavior through the lens of competition and cooperation across the three domains of life—Bacteria, Archaea, and Eukarya. By focusing on gene-based mechanisms, we propose that sociality arises from conserved molecular pathways shaped by similar selective pressures, even in phylogenetically distant organisms. This cross-domain perspective highlights the potential for convergent evolutionary solutions and offers a foundation for identifying invariant principles underlying the emergence and maintenance of social behavior.