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Pleiotropy and preadaptation in the evolution of human language capacity.

The capacity for spoken language in the human is a genetic trait, but the information communicated by this means is to a large extent culturally determined. Using a gene-culture coevolutionary approach, we model the hypothesis that speech evolved as a channel for the communication of adaptive cultural traits from parent to offspring. The motivation for this paper is a condition obtained previously that initial increase of communication would require at least a two-fold advantage for the transmitted trait. Here, we show that under reasonable assumptions the invasion condition becomes less stringent. In Model 1, we assume that two adaptive cultural traits can be transmitted. A gene which permits communication of the second adaptive trait. In Model 2, we assume that a related function such as greater memory capacity is a prerequisite for speech, and that this function confers an advantage independent of its association with speech. In both models we assume haploid sexual genetics and a simple scheme of vertical transmission. The stability properties of all corner and edge equilibria of the models are analyzed. The two models taken together suggest a possible scenario for the initial stages of the evolution of speech.

Adaptation, Biological↗

Preadaptation to efficient respiratory maintenance is essential both for maximal longevity and the retention of replicative potential in chronologically ageing yeast.

Only recently have the studies of yeast ageing started to focus on the S288c-derived strains used extensively in genomics and on the longest lifespans. Chronological longevity (stationary (G(0)) survival) of such strains is greater when cells are pre-grown on a respiratory carbon source, as compared to when they are pre-grown on glucose (the latter a respiration-repressing sugar). Prior adaptation to efficient respiratory maintenance also ensures that such chronologically aged yeast cells still display a full replicative lifespan should they reenter the cell cycle. In contrast, cells that are pre-grown on glucose exhibit marked and progressive losses of replicative potential as they age chronologically in stationary phase. Increasing the respiratory activity in glucose-grown cultures by HAP4 gene overexpression increased survival and reversed the loss of replicative potential during a subsequent stationary phase. Adaptation to efficient respiratory maintenance is therefore important, not just for maximal longevity, but also for the maintenance of a full replicative lifespan by chronologically ageing cultures of yeast. In such respiration-adapted cultures, losses of the Sch9 protein kinase or Yca1 caspase both shortened lifespan. In contrast loss of Yap1, the major transcriptional regulator of the oxidative stress response, generated a small increase in chronological lifespan in certain strain backgrounds. It would appear, therefore, that any induction of oxidative stress response genes in chronologically ageing yeast is not operating to generate an increase in longevity, even though such protective effects might be expected from the increased proxidant status of these cells over time.

Adaptation, Physiological↗

QTL mapping for a trade-off between leaf and bud production in a recombinant inbred population of Microseris douglasii and M. bigelovii (Asteraceae, Lactuceae): a potential preadaptation for the colonization of serpentine soils.

The different response to growth on serpentine soil is a major autecological difference between the annual asteracean species Microseris douglasii and M. bigelovii, with nearly non-overlapping distribution ranges in California. Early flowering and seed set is regarded as a crucial character contributing to escape drought and thus is strongly correlated with survival and reproductive success on serpentine as naturally toxic soil. M. bigelovii (strain C94) from non-serpentine soil produces more leaves at the expense of bud production in the first growing phase than M. douglasii (B14) from serpentine soil. A QTL mapping study for this trade-off and for other growth-related traits was performed after six generations of inbreeding (F7) from a single interspecific hybrid between B14 and C94 on plants that were grown on serpentine and alternatively on normal potting soil. The trade-off is mainly correlated with markers on one map region on linkage group 03a (lg03a) with major phenotypic effects (phenotypic variance explained [PVE] = 18.8 - 31.7 %). Plants with the M. douglasii allele in QTL-B1 (QTL-NL1) produce more buds but fewer leaves in the first 119 days on both soil types. Three modifier QTL could be mapped for bud and leaf production. In one modifier (QTL-B2 = QTL-NL4) the M. douglasii allele is again associated with more buds but fewer leaves. QTL mapped for bud set in the F6 co-localize with QTL-B1 (major QTL) and QTL-B3. Two additional QTL for leaf length and red coloration of leaves could be mapped to one map region on lg03a. Co-localization of the two QTL loci with major phenotypic effects on bud and leaf production strongly suggests that a major genetic locus controls the trade-off between the two adaptive traits. The importance of mutational changes in major genes for the adaptation to stressful environments is discussed.

Adaptation, Physiological↗

Amplification of DNA from preserved specimens shows blowflies were preadapted for the rapid evolution of insecticide resistance.

Mutations of esterase 3 confer two forms of organophosphate resistance on contemporary Australasian Lucilia cuprina. One form, called diazinon resistance, is slightly more effective against commonly used insecticides and is now more prevalent than the other form, called malathion resistance. We report here that the single amino acid replacement associated with diazinon resistance and two replacements associated with malathion resistance also occur in esterase 3 in the sibling species Lucilia sericata, suggesting convergent evolution around a finite set of resistance options. We also find parallels between the species in the geographic distributions of the polymorphisms: In both cases, the diazinon-resistance change is absent or rare outside Australasia where insecticide pressure is lower, whereas the changes associated with malathion resistance are widespread. Furthermore, PCR analysis of pinned specimens of Australasian L. cuprina collected before the release of organophosphate insecticides reveals no cases of the diazinon-resistance change but several cases of those associated with malathion resistance. Thus, the early outbreak of resistance in this species can be explained by the preexistence of mutant alleles encoding malathion resistance. The pinned specimen analysis also shows much higher genetic diversity at the locus before organophosphate use, suggesting that the subsequent sweep of diazinon resistance in Australasia has compromised the scope for the locus to respond further to the ongoing challenge of the insecticides.

Adaptation, Physiological↗

Preadaptation of protein synthesis in wheat seedlings to high temperature.

The optimum temperature of protein synthesis in wheat seedlings (Triticum aestivum L.), measured as (14)C-leucine incorporation, depends on the growing temperature. Plants grown at reduced temperature (4 C) reach their optimum at 27.5 C, whereas plants kept at 36 C have the highest rate of protein synthesis at 35 C. The transition is gradual. The activation energy of protein synthesis for seedlings grown at medium or reduced temperature is lower (about 11 kcal/mole), than for plants grown at higher temperatures (15 keal/mole). The decline of the rate of protein synthesis beyond the temperature optimum is also affected by the growth temperature; only plants kept at 30 or 36 C show a sharp decrease with increasing slope; plants kept at 4, 10, and 20 C exhibit a linear and comparatively moderate decline.

Journal Article↗

Hormone response of normal and intermittent cold-preadapted humans to continuous cold.

This study examined the hormonal and thermal responses of two groups of subjects during 16 days in the Arctic (mean temperature -26.8 degrees C). One group (NPA) received no prior cold exposure, whereas the second group (PA) was subjected to nine daily immersions (20-40 min) in cold water (15 degrees C) 20 days before the Arctic exposure. Nude cold tolerance tests (cold air at 10 degrees C) were administered to both groups before and after the Arctic exposure. The NPA group showed an increase in metabolism and rectal temperature, whereas the PA group showed no elevation in metabolism and a decrease in rectal temperature. In the Arctic significant daily increases over the control period of urine volume (+86%), urinary norepinephrine (+48%), epinephrine (+84%), and 17-hydroxycorticosteroids (+34%) occurred in the NPA group. Only epinephrine (+65%) increased in the PA group. The hormonal and thermal responses of the NPA group in the Arctic were characteristic of metabolic adaption, whereas those in the PA group were suggestive of a hypothermic type of adaptation or habituation with no evidence of sympathetic or adrenocortical stimulation. The hormonal and thermal responses observed in this study indicate that a degree of cold resistance can be induced rapidly in humans by short intermittent exposures to an intense cold stress, which persists for a significant period of time after the last exposure.

17-Hydroxycorticosteroids↗