In this brief review of published works with results reported but not discussed, it becomes clear that no one is willing to discuss the clear refutations of mutation-initiated natural selection in the context of mutation-driven evolution. I think that’s because there is no such thing as mutation-driven evolution. It is actually ecological variation that results in adaptations via the Creation of new genes required for increasing organismal complexity. That complexity arises from ecological, social, neurogenic, and socio-cognitive niche construction.
During the past few decades of discussions about Darwin’s theory, his ‘conditions of life’ have been ignored. His ‘conditions’ are obviously nutrient-dependent and pheromone-controlled, but people seem unwilling to discuss the fact that the same conserved molecular mechanisms must be found in every organism of every extant species for anyone to claim that an individual member of that species has somehow “evolved.” These conserved molecular mechanisms clearly show that ecological adaptations are responsible for species divergence, and that fact has been reported but not discussed in the extant literature.
Detecting Fat Content of Food from a Distance: Olfactory-Based Fat Discrimination in Humans reported as: “Humans Can Use Smell to Detect Levels of Dietary Fat” January 22nd, 2014.
News article excerpt: “As food smell almost always is detected before taste, the findings identify one of the first sensory qualities that signals whether a food contains fat.”
My comment: This ecological adaptation exemplifies how nutrient-sensing results in ecological niche construction (sans mutations in species from microbes to man).
The Scent of Disease: Human Body Odor Contains an Early Chemosensory Cue of Sickness reported as: “Detecting sickness by smell.” January 23rd, 2014.
News article excerpt: “Being able to detect these smells would represent a critical adaptation that would allow us to avoid potentially dangerous illnesses.”
My comment: This adaptation exemplifies how nutrient-dependent pheromone-controlled reproduction is manifested in social niche construction. The study “… grants us a better understanding of the social cues of sickness…” (sans mutations in species from microbes to man).
The perceptual logic of smell (sans mutations in species from microbes to man).
Journal article excerpt: “The simplicity of olfactory perception implies that the complexity of the olfactory genome may hold secrets for more than understanding olfaction alone.”
This has not yet reported elsewhere in the context of:
1) Human pheromones and food odors: epigenetic influences on the socioaffective nature of evolved behaviors (sans mutations in species from microbes to man) or in the context of
2) Nutrient-dependent/pheromone-controlled adaptive evolution: a model (sans mutations in species from microbes to man).
1) Conclusion: “Olfaction and odor receptors provide a clear evolutionary trail that can be followed from unicellular organisms to insects to humans (Keller et al., 2007; Kohl, 2007; Villarreal, 2009; Vosshall, Wong, & Axel, 2000).”
2) Conclusion: “Unconscious affects that are manifested during the development of diversified life and human behavior are, by their very nature, part of life that few people think about (Kohl et al., 2001). Therefore, the largest contributor to the development of our personal preferences may be the unconscious epigenetic effects of food odors and pheromones on hormones that organize and activate behavior. If so, the model represented here is consistent with what is known about the epigenetic effects of ecologically important nutrients and pheromones on the adaptively evolved behavior of species from microbes to man. Minimally, this model can be compared to any other factual representations of epigenesis and epistasis for determination of the best scientific ‘fit’.
Origin and Spread of de Novo Genes in Drosophila melanogaster Populations reported as: Drosophila’s New Genes January 23rd, 2014.
News article excerpt: “To show [the formation of de novo genes] at the population genetics level is really a nice story,” agreed evolutionary biologist Diethard Tautz of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Plön, Germany, who also did not participate in the research. “It shows the power of generating from nothing, so to speak.”
My comment: Creation of genes at the population genetics level is more than a nice story. Creation of genes is the “holy grail” of evolutionary biology.
Mutation-initiated natural selection was a nice story.
Experimental evidence has now eliminated the mutation-driven evolution story and replaced it with biological facts about the conserved molecular mechanisms that enable the nutrient-dependent pheromone-controlled de novo creation of genes (sans mutations in species from microbes to man).
The missense of smell: functional variability in the human odorant receptor repertoire reported as Extensive variability in olfactory receptors influences human odor perception December 8th, 2013
News article excerpt: “Adding to the complexity of the problem, the underlying amino acid sequence can vary slightly for each of the 400 receptor proteins, resulting in one or more variants for each of the receptors.”
My comment: In my model, nutrient-dependent pheromone-controlled amino acid substitutions link the de novo creation of olfactory receptor genes to species-specific differences in cell types, morphology, and behavior via chromosomal rearrangements that are responsible for Mosaic Copy Number Variation in Human Neurons reported as Genetic Diversity in the Brain October 31st, 2013.
Journal article excerpt: “One straightforward hypothesis is that neurons with different genomes will have distinct molecular phenotypes because of altered transcriptional or epigenetic landscapes.”
My comment: In my model, the epigenetic landscape becomes the physical landscape of DNA in the organized genomes of species from microbes to man via experience-dependent de novo creation of olfactory receptor genes (sans mutations).
