Q. From the zygote, pluricellular organisms are formed by serial mitosis. Would this formation be possible if each cell made by mitosis had an identical life in relation to its antecedent cells? How did evolution solve that problem?
The formation of complex and distinct pluricellular organisms would not be possible if mitosis in embryos produced only daughter cells with an identical life history as the mother cell, since there would not be differentiation and structural or functional specialization among cells.
Evolution solved the problem creating the cellular differentiation process by which, motivated by stimulus not yet well-known by science specialized and different cell lineages gave birth to different tissues, systems and organs that, as a whole, form the pluricellular organisms.
Cellular differentiation probably is a very intricate process that inactivates and activates some genes within the cell in response to some stimulus.