“The major antigenic changes of the influenza virus are primarily caused by a single amino acid near the receptor binding site. [subscription required]”
The relevance to evolutionary theory and to the biology of behavior is that a single amino acid substitution also enabled adaptation to the sensory environment during the past ~30K years in a human population in central China. Their adaptability is exemplified across species via the conserved molecular mechanisms that appear to be responsible for evolution in viruses. Debate about whether viruses are alive and whether they exhibit behaviors can now include evidence of the conserved molecular mechanisms of physics, chemistry, and biology in species of living and non-living organisms. The origins of human behavior in viruses adds new dimensions for consideration in the context of theories that suggest random mutations cause things to somehow happen that appear to defy the basic principles of biology and levels of biological organization that link the epigenetic landscape to the physical landscape of DNA in the organized genomes of all living organisms via molecular mechanisms of organization in viruses.
The idea of biophysical constraints seems antithetical to the idea of nature
somehow selecting mutations that cause amino acid substitutions. However, I
am not a biophysicist or evolutionary theorist.
The problem may be my focus on nutrient-dependent receptor-mediated amino
acid substitutions in species from bacteria to humans (non-viral organisms).
Since I am not a virologist or physicist,I’m not sure that the laws of
physics apply to viruses and their replication.
If they do, natural selection for random mutations is not likely to result in
amino acid substitutions because the thermodynamics of changes in
organism-level thermoregulation preclude such randomness. Stability of
protein biosynthesis and degradation that probably depends on protein folding
must somehow be controlled. Besides, I don’t know how random mutations in
viruses could be naturally selected for inclusion in the human virome (or in
the virome of any organism capable of thermoregulating its thermodynamic
intercellular signaling).
If the Second Law of Thermodynamics does not apply to viruses, which means
the chemical bonds that enable the amino acid substitutions can form at
random and somehow be naturally selected, the details of biophysical
constraints in this article seems out of place, since I do not think in terms
of constrained random mutations and natural selection in mutation-driven
evolution.
Hopefully, someone with a background in biophysics will address my confusion
in case others are confused. In addition, I wonder if the consequences of
understanding the evolutionary mechanisms that govern viruses extend to
consequences important to understanding the evolution of species from
bacteria to humans via constrained random mutations and natural selection?
James Vaughn Kohl was the first to accurately conceptualize human pheromones, and began presenting his findings to the scientific community in 1992. He continues to present to, and publish for, diverse scientific and lay audiences, while constantly monitoring the scientific presses for new information that is relevant to the development of his initial and ongoing conceptualization of human pheromones.
Recently, Kohl integrated scientific evidence that pinpoints the evolved neurophysiological mechanism that links olfactory/pheromonal input to genes in hormone-secreting cells of tissue in a specific area of the brain that is primarily involved in the sensory integration of olfactory and visual input, and in the development of human sexual preferences. His award-winning 2007 article/book chapter on multisensory integration: The Mind’s Eyes: Human pheromones, neuroscience, and male sexual preferences followed an award winning 2001 publication: Human pheromones: integrating neuroendocrinology and ethology, which was coauthored by disinguished researchers from Vienna. Rarely do researchers win awards in multiple disciplines, but Kohl’s 2001 award was for neuroscience, and his 2007 “Reiss Theory” award was for social science.
Kohl has worked as a medical laboratory scientist since 1974, and he has devoted more than twenty-five years to researching the relationship between the sense of smell and the development of human sexual preferences. Unlike many researchers who work with non-human subjects, medical laboratory scientists use the latest technology from many scientific disciplines to perform a variety of specialized diagnostic medical testing on people.
James V. Kohl is certified with:
* American Society for Clinical Pathology
* American Medical Technologists
James V. Kohl is a member of:
* Society for Neuroscience
* Society for Behavioral Neuroendocrinology
* Association for Chemoreception Sciences
* Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality
* International Society for Human Ethology
* American Society for Clinical Laboratory Science
* Mensa, the international high IQ society
