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Background  The multicellular volvocine alga  Pleodorina  is intermediate in organismal complexity between its unicellular relative,  Chlamydomonas , and its multicellular relative,  Volvox , which shows complete division of labor between different cell types. The volvocine green microalgae form a group of genera closely related to the genus  Volvox  within the order Volvocales (Chlorophyta). Embryos of multicellular volvocine algae consist of a cellular monolayer that, depending on the species, is either bowl-shaped or comprises a sphere. During embryogenesis, multicellular volvocine embryos turn their cellular monolayer right-side out to expose their flagella. This process is called ‘inversion’ and serves as simple model for epithelial folding in metazoa. While the development of spherical  Volvox  embryos has been the subject of detailed studies, the inversion process of bowl-shaped embryos is less well understood. Therefore, it has been unclear how the inversion of a sphere might have evolved from less complicated processes.    Results  In this study we characterized the inversion of initially bowl-shaped embryos of the 64- to 128-celled volvocine species  Pleodorina californica . We focused on the movement patterns of the cell sheet, cell shape changes and changes in the localization of cytoplasmic bridges (CBs) connecting the cells. The development of living embryos was recorded using time-lapse light microscopy. Moreover, fixed and sectioned embryos throughout inversion and at successive stages of development were analyzed by light and transmission electron microscopy. We generated three-dimensional models of the identified cell shapes including the localization of CBs.    Conclusions  In contrast to descriptions concerning volvocine embryos with lower cell numbers, the embryonic cells of  P. californica  undergo non-simultaneous and non-uniform cell shape changes. In  P. californica , cell wedging in combination with a relocation of the CBs to the basal cell tips explains the curling of the cell sheet during inversion. In volvocine genera with lower organismal complexity, the cell shape changes and relocation of CBs are less pronounced in comparison to  P. californica , while they are more pronounced in all members of the genus  Volvox . This finding supports an increasing significance of the temporal and spatial regulation of cell shape changes and CB relocations with both increasing cell number and organismal complexity during evolution of differentiated multicellularity.    Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12861-016-0134-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Distinct shape-shifting regimes of bowl-shaped cell sheets – embryonic inversion in the multicellular green alga Pleodorina