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Gilbert BLP, Kessler SE. Could care giving have altered the evolution of human immune strategies? Evol Med Public Health 2024; 12:33-49. [PMID: 38380131 PMCID: PMC10878251 DOI: 10.1093/emph/eoae004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/15/2022] [Revised: 01/12/2024] [Indexed: 02/22/2024] Open
Abstract
Life history theory indicates that individuals/species with a slow pace of life invest more in acquired than innate immunity. Factors that decrease the pace of life and predict greater investment in acquired immunity include increased nutritional resources, increased pathogen exposure and decreased risk of extrinsic mortality. Common care behaviors given to sick individuals produce exactly these effects: provisioning increases nutritional resources; hygiene assistance increases disease exposure of carers; and protection can reduce the risk of extrinsic mortality to sick individuals. This study, therefore, investigated under what conditions care giving behaviors might impact immune strategy and pace of life. The study employed an agent-based model approach that simulated populations with varying levels of care giving, disease mortality, disease transmissibility, and extrinsic mortality, enabling measurements of how the immune strategy and age structure of the populations changed over evolutionary time. We used multiple regressions to examine the effects of these variables on immune strategy and the age structure of the population. The findings supported our predictions that care was selected for an acquired immunity. However, the pace of life did not slow as expected. Instead, the population shifted to a faster, but also more cost-intensive reproductive strategy in which care improved child survival by subsidizing the development of acquired immune responses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Bethany L P Gilbert
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, UK
| | - Sharon E Kessler
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA, UK
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Hayes SC, Hofmann SG. A biphasic relational approach to the evolution of human consciousness: Un enfoque relacional bifásico para la evolución de la conciencia humana. Int J Clin Health Psychol 2023; 23:100380. [PMID: 36937548 PMCID: PMC10017357 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijchp.2023.100380] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2022] [Accepted: 02/10/2023] [Indexed: 03/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Background/objective Human consciousness is arguably unique, and its features are hard to explain. Continuous and discrete accounts of consciousness are commonly viewed as incompatible, but both have limitations. Continuous accounts cannot readily account for what appears to be unique about human consciousness; discrete accounts have a hard time explaining how human consciousness could have evolved. The present position paper shows how both continuous and discontinuously elements can be combined. Method A biphasic model is constructed by unifying complex systems theory, the evolution of symbolic reasoning as a relational extension of human cooperation, and evolutionary science. The application of this approach to modern views of consciousness is then explored. Results Our analysis suggests that human consciousness may be viewed as a discontinuous event, that emerged from continuous foundations. This biphasic account contains processes that can be targeted clinically. For example, developmentally delayed children with problems in consciousness may be helped by targeting the processes the present account suggests are important at different levels of complexity. Conclusions This biphasic relational approach fits with the evolutionary record and with data on human cognitive development. It may be useful in guiding clinical intervention.
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Carmel Y, Shavit A, Lamm E, Szathmáry E. Human socio-cultural evolution in light of evolutionary transitions: introduction to the theme issue. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2023; 378:20210397. [PMID: 36688397 PMCID: PMC9869440 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0397] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Human societies are no doubt complex. They are characterized by division of labour, multiple hierarchies, intricate communication networks and transport systems. These phenomena and others have led scholars to propose that human society may be, or may become, a new hierarchical level that may dominate the individual humans within it, similar to the relations between an organism and its cells, or an ant colony and its members. Recent discussions of the possibility of this major evolutionary transition in individuality (ETI) raise interesting and controversial questions that are explored in the present issue from four different complementary perspectives. (i) The general theory of ETIs. (ii) The unique aspects of cultural evolution. (iii) The evolutionary history and pre-history of humans. (iv) Specific routes of a possible human ETI. Each perspective uses different tools provided by different disciplines: biology, anthropology, cultural evolution, systems theory, psychology, economy, linguistics and philosophy of science. Altogether, this issue provides a broad and rich application of the notion of ETI to human past, present and perhaps also future evolution. It presents important case studies, new theoretical results and novel questions for future research. This article is part of the theme issue 'Human socio-cultural evolution in light of evolutionary transitions'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yohay Carmel
- Department of Environmental Engineering, Technion, Haifa, 32000, Israel
| | - Ayelet Shavit
- Department of Interdisciplinary Studies, Tel Hai College, 12208, Israel,Department of Humanities and Arts, Technion, 3200003, Israel
| | - Ehud Lamm
- The Cohn Institute for History and Philosophy of Science, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 69978, Israel
| | - Eörs Szathmáry
- Institute of Evolution, Centre for Ecological Research, 1121 Budapest, Hungary,Parmenides Foundation, 82343 Pöcking, Germany,Department of Plant Systematics, Ecology and Theoretical Biology, Eötvös University, Budapest 1117, Hungary
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Ingold T. Evolution without Inheritance. CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY 2022. [DOI: 10.1086/722437] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/11/2022]
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Fuentes A. Evolving Belief, Evolving Minds: Evolutionary Insights Into the Development and Functioning of Human Society. Front Behav Neurosci 2022; 16:928297. [PMID: 35813595 PMCID: PMC9258604 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2022.928297] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/25/2022] [Accepted: 05/30/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
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Kessler SE, Aunger R. The evolution of the human healthcare system and implications for understanding our responses to COVID-19. Evol Med Public Health 2022; 10:87-107. [PMID: 35284079 PMCID: PMC8908543 DOI: 10.1093/emph/eoac004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/11/2021] [Accepted: 01/14/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed an urgent need for a comprehensive, multidisciplinary understanding of how healthcare systems respond successfully to infectious pathogens-and how they fail. This study contributes a novel perspective that focuses on the selective pressures that shape healthcare systems over evolutionary time. We use a comparative approach to trace the evolution of care-giving and disease control behaviours across species and then map their integration into the contemporary human healthcare system. Self-care and pro-health environmental modification are ubiquitous across animals, while derived behaviours like care for kin, for strangers, and group-level organizational responses have evolved via different selection pressures. We then apply this framework to our behavioural responses to COVID-19 and demonstrate that three types of conflicts are occurring: (1) conflicting selection pressures on individuals, (2) evolutionary mismatches between the context in which our healthcare behaviours evolved and our globalized world of today and (3) evolutionary displacements in which older forms of care are currently dispensed through more derived forms. We discuss the significance of understanding how healthcare systems evolve and change for thinking about the role of healthcare systems in society during and after the time of COVID-19-and for us as a species as we continue to face selection from infectious diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sharon E Kessler
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling, Stirling, UK
| | - Robert Aunger
- Environmental Health Group, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
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Tejada-Martinez D, Avelar RA, Lopes I, Zhang B, Novoa G, de Magalhães JP, Trizzino M. Positive selection and enhancer evolution shaped lifespan and body mass in great apes. Mol Biol Evol 2021; 39:6491260. [PMID: 34971383 PMCID: PMC8837823 DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msab369] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Within primates, the great apes are outliers both in terms of body size and lifespan, since they include the largest and longest-lived species in the order. Yet, the molecular bases underlying such features are poorly understood. Here, we leveraged an integrated approach to investigate multiple sources of molecular variation across primates, focusing on over ten thousand genes, including ∼1,500 previously associated with lifespan, and additional ∼9,000 for which an association with longevity has never been suggested. We analyzed dN/dS rates, positive selection, gene expression (RNA-seq) and gene regulation (ChIP-seq). By analyzing the correlation between dN/dS, maximum lifespan and body mass we identified 276 genes whose rate of evolution positively correlates with maximum lifespan in primates. Further, we identified 5 genes, important for tumor suppression, adaptive immunity, metastasis and inflammation, under positive selection exclusively in the great ape lineage. RNA-seq data, generated from the liver of six species representing all the primate lineages, revealed that 8% of ∼1,500 genes previously associated with longevity are differentially expressed in apes relative to other primates. Importantly, by integrating RNA-seq with ChIP-seq for H3K27ac (which marks active enhancers), we show that the differentially expressed longevity genes are significantly more likely than expected to be located near a novel "ape-specific" enhancer. Moreover, these particular ape-specific enhancers are enriched for young transposable elements, and specifically SINE-Vntr-Alus (SVAs). In summary, we demonstrate that multiple evolutionary forces have contributed to the evolution of lifespan and body size in primates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniela Tejada-Martinez
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.,Integrative Genomics of Ageing Group, Institute of Ageing and Chronic Disease, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
| | - Roberto A Avelar
- Integrative Genomics of Ageing Group, Institute of Ageing and Chronic Disease, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
| | - Inês Lopes
- Integrative Genomics of Ageing Group, Institute of Ageing and Chronic Disease, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
| | - Bruce Zhang
- Institute of Healthy Ageing, and Research Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, London, WC1E 6BT, UK
| | - Guy Novoa
- Department of Structure of Macromolecules, Centro Nacional de Biotecnología-CSIC, Madrid, Spain
| | - João Pedro de Magalhães
- Integrative Genomics of Ageing Group, Institute of Ageing and Chronic Disease, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK
| | - Marco Trizzino
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA, USA
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Fuentes A. Searching for the “Roots” of Masculinity in Primates and the Human Evolutionary Past. CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY 2021. [DOI: 10.1086/711582] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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Lindell AK, Lindell KL. Phylogenetic proximity influences humans' depictions of nonhuman primates on Instagram. Laterality 2020; 26:94-105. [PMID: 33148115 DOI: 10.1080/1357650x.2020.1840577] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Portraits of humans favour the left cheek, with emotion thought to drive this posing asymmetry. In primates the emotion-dominant right hemisphere predominantly controls the left hemiface, rendering the left cheek anatomically more expressive than the right. As perceptions of nonhuman primates vary with genetic relatedness, depictions of nonhuman primates should theoretically be influenced by their phylogenetic proximity to humans. The present study thus examined whether humans depict nonhuman primates showing the left cheek, and whether depictions vary with evolutionary distance. Photographs of nonhuman primates were sourced from Instagram's "Most recent" feed: great apes (#chimpanzee, #bonobo, #gorilla, #orangutan), lesser apes (#gibbon), Old World monkeys (#baboon, #macaque, #proboscismonkey), New World monkeys (#spidermonkey, #marmosetmonkey, #capuchin), and prosimians (#lemur, #slowloris, #tarsier). The first 500 single-subject images for each hashtag (except #slowloris for which 318 images were available) were coded for pose orientation (left, right) and portrait type (head/torso, full body). As anticipated, there was a left cheek bias for great apes but no bias for more distantly related primates. These data thus suggest that depictions of nonhuman primates are implicitly influenced by phylogenetic proximity: the more closely related the primate, the more likely we are to depict them as we do ourselves, showing the left cheek.
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Affiliation(s)
- Annukka K Lindell
- Department of Psychology and Counselling, School of Psychology and Public Health, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Australia
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Fuentes A. Biological anthropology's critical engagement with genomics, evolution, race/racism, and ourselves: Opportunities and challenges to making a difference in the academy and the world. AMERICAN JOURNAL OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY 2020; 175:326-338. [PMID: 33098091 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.24162] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/18/2020] [Revised: 07/25/2020] [Accepted: 10/02/2020] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Biological anthropology can, and should, matter in the Anthropocene. Biological anthropologists are interested in human biology and the human experience in a broader ecological, evolutionary, and phylogenetic context. We are interested in the material of the body, the history of the body, and interactions of diverse bodies, communities, ecologies, and evolutionary processes. However, the cultural realities of bodies, histories, communities, livelihoods, perceptions, and experiences are as central to the endeavor and inquiry of biological anthropology as are their material aspects. Biological anthropology is a constant dialectic between the cultural and the biological. In this essay, I argue that Biological Anthropology has much to offer, a history to contend with, and a future that matters. To illustrate this, I highlight theoretical and methodological issues in genomics, evolutionary theory and connect them to the study of Race and Racism to emphasize specific arenas where Biological Anthropology has a great capacity, and a strong obligation, to play a central role. However, Biological Anthropology also has substantive internal issues that hinder our ability to do the best possible science. If we are to live up to our potential and make a difference in the 21st century we need to ameliorate our structural shortcomings and expand our voice, and impact, in academic and public discourse. The goal of this perspective is to offer suggestions for moving us toward this goal.
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Affiliation(s)
- Agustín Fuentes
- Department of Anthropology, 123 Aaron Burr Hall, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, USA
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Commentary: Other Animals as Kin and Persons Worthy of Increased Ethical Consideration. Camb Q Healthc Ethics 2019; 29:38-41. [PMID: 31858937 DOI: 10.1017/s0963180119000744] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
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