New book explores evolution of human reproduction.” August 20th, 2013.
Excerpt: “Chicken, like people, evolved so that one egg could lead to another.”
My comment: Vitellogenin is an egg yolk precursor protein expressed in the females of nearly all oviparous species including fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, most invertebrates, and the platypus
That fact links microbial, invertebrate, and vertebrate reproduction to nutrient-dependent pheromone-controlled adaptive evolution via what is now known about how The gene vitellogenin affects microRNA regulation in honey bee (Apis mellifera) fat body and brain. For example, we know that “Gustatory perception is a behavioral predictor for honey bee social behavior” From an even broader perspective on adaptive evolution that includes species from microbes to non-human primates and man, I wrote in Kohl (2012):
“It is now clearer how an environmental drive probably evolved from that of food ingestion in unicellular organisms to that of socialization in insects. It is also clear that, in mammals, food odors and pheromones cause changes in hormones such as LH, which has developmental affects on sexual behavior in nutrient-dependent, reproductively fit individuals across species of vertebrates.
The original environmental drive of food odors and their effect on LH shares remarkable homology with the function of a sex pheromone in yeast that links pheromones to LH and to reproductive fitness via nutrition in mammals (Maeda et al., 2010). The fact that the sex pheromone of a yeast species elicits an LH response from the cultured pituitary cells of a mammal (Loumaye, Thorner, & Catt, 1982) exemplifies an evolutionary continuum across species. The effect of sex pheromones on GnRH in mammals links them to LH and to sexual selection for other sensory signals of reproductive fitness. This homology from yeasts to mammals also differentiates the similar effects of food odors on hormones across some species from the species-specific behavioral affects of sex differences in pheromones in all species that sexually reproduce (Kohl, 2007).”
It would be great to read a book that explores the evolution of human reproduction from its origins in the sexual differentiation of yeast cells. Unfortunately, the target audience would not be large enough to popularize the scientific facts. The requirement for some basic knowledge about the common molecular mechanisms found in species from microbes to man has not been met. In a world where mutation-driven evolution is the accepted story line, scientific evidence of epigenetic effects on the microRNA/messenger RNA balance and nutrient-dependent pheromone-controlled species diversity has no chance of acceptance. There are simply too many scientific facts to be considered and mutation-driven evolution requires no consideration of scientific facts whatsoever.
This new book on the evolution of human reproduction appears to make no mention of odor, smell, or pheromones (according to the look inside search function at amazon). It will probably become one of the old books that failed to incorporate what’s currently known and join them on the already overflowing shelves of historically inaccurate misrepresentations of cause and effect. Search for “random mutation” to reveal the author’s basic premise lies in unknown molecular mechanisms that might someday explain what is naturally selected. For comparison, see: Odoratus Sexualis: A Scientific and Literary Study of Sexual Scents and Erotic Perfumes and/or The Scent of Eros: Mysteries of Odor in Human Sexuality.
