Face parts, in contrast, are not predictable. The researchers then looked at the genomic sequences of people of European, African, or Asian descent from the Genomes Project , a freely available catalog of genetic information. The researchers focused on 59 stretches of DNA previously linked to facial features. These DNA codes were more variable than the rest of the genome was, and were more variable than regions associated with a person's height, the study found.
To get a sense of when this diversity cropped up during human evolution, the researchers also compared the DNA of modern humans to that of a Neanderthal individual and of a Denisovan, another early human relative. In both the modern and ancient DNA, two genes—one related to the distance between the chin and bridge of the nose, and the other to nose shape—had similar levels of variability, suggesting that facial diversity evolved before modern humans did.
That high level of genetic variability probably means that evolutionary forces are at play in shaping the diversity of faces, the authors say. Consider a hypothetical gene that codes for either a long nose or a short nose, depending on its DNA variations. If a long nose was harmful, long-nose variants would be weeded out over time. But if the usefulness of a long nose depends on the environmental context, then both short and long variants will stick around in the genome, leading to a more diverse set of genes.
The increased genetic variability is consistent with the idea of evolution selecting for facial uniqueness, but that explanation is "hardly definitive," notes T. Ryan Gregory , a biologist at the University of Guelph in Ontario. Genetic diversity could alternatively have arisen because of recent interbreeding of previously distinct populations, or even just by chance, he says. If facial diversity is an evolved trait, it may have arisen for reasons other than recognition, other researchers have noted.
Many other species, such as sheep, can use faces to recognize individuals even when those faces are not highly variable, says Susanne Shultz , an evolutionary biologist at the University of Manchester in the U. Earlier this year Dixson's team found that people rate beards as more attractive when they are rare.
Mate preferences might have similarly played a role in facial diversity, he says. Rare characteristics "have the potential to enhance an individual's attractiveness relative to their contemporaries. All rights reserved. Share Tweet Email. Why it's so hard to treat pain in infants. Our special abilities, from big brains to opposable thumbs, have allowed us change our world dramatically and even leave the planet. There are also odd things about us that are, well, just special in relation to the rest of the animal kingdom.
So what exactly makes us so special? Some things we take completely for granted might surprise you. Editor's Note: This presentation was originally published in It was updated in March, The larynx, or voice box, sits lower in the throat in humans than in chimps, one of several features that enable human speech.
Human ancestors evolved a descended larynx roughly , years ago. We also possess a descended hyoid bone — this horseshoe-shaped bone below the tongue, unique in that it is not attached to any other bones in the body, allows us to articulate words when speaking. Humans are unique among the primates in how walking fully upright is our chief mode of locomotion.
This frees our hands up for using tools. Unfortunately, the changes made in our pelvis for moving on two legs, in combination with babies with large brains, makes human childbirth unusually dangerous compared with the rest of the animal kingdom. A century ago, childbirth was a leading cause of death for women.
The lumbar curve in the lower back, which helps us maintain our balance as we stand and walk, also leaves us vulnerable to lower back pain and strain. Epigenetic contributions to adaptive radiation: insights from threespined stickleback. Epigenetics: Linking Genotype and Phenotype. The theory of facilitated variation.
Gilbert SF, Epel D. Gissis SB, Jablonka E. Gluckman P, Hanson M. The Fetal Matrix. A conceptual framework for the developmental origins of health and disease. J Dev Origin Health Dis 1 : 6— Environmental influences during development and their later consequences for health and disease: implications for the interpretation of empirical studies.
Proc R Soc Ser B : — Gollin ES ed. Gottlieb G. Individual Development and Evolution. Hardy A. The Living Stream.
Collins: London, UK. Heisenberg M. Action selection. Invertebrate Learning and Memory. Academic Press: London, UK. Experience and plasticity in the central nervous system.
Science l8l : — Jablonka E, Lamb MJ. Epigenetic Inheritance and Evolution. Evolution in Four Dimensions. Transgenerational epigenetic inheritance. Evolution—The Extended Synthesis.
Jablonka E, Raz G. Transgenerational epigenetic inheritance: prevalence, mechanisms, and implications for the study of heredity and evolution. Q Rev Biol 84 : — Unique metabolic characteristics of the major syndromes of severe childhood malnutrition. Randle: Kingston, ON, Canada. Environmental epigenomics and disease susceptibility.
Nat Rev Genet 8 : — Assessing the impact of transgenerational epigenetic variation on complex traits. PLoS Genetics 5 : e Epigenomic plasticity within populations: its evolutionary significance and potential.
Heredity : — Obesity and adipocyte abnormalities in offspring of rats undernourished during pregnancy. Molecular biology of learning : modulation of transmitter release. Constraints and flexibility in mammmalian social behaviour: introduction and synthesis. Early determinants of lifetime reproductive success differ between the sexes in red deer.
Lachman M, Jablonka E. The inheritance of phenotypes: an adaptation to fluctuating environments. J Theoret Biol : 1—9. Inducible defenses: the relevance of chemical alarm cues in Daphnia. Limnol Oceanogr 51 : — The role of internal and external constructive processes in evolution.
Lande R. Adaptation to an extraordinary environment by evolution of phenotypic plasticity and genetic assimilation. J Evol Biol 22 : — Lee TM, Zucker I. Vole infant development is influences perinatally by maternal photoperiodic history. Am J Physiol : R—R Lerner R.
On the Nature of Human Plasticity. Lewontin RC. Gene, organism and environment. In: Bendall DS ed. Evolution from Molecules to Men. Lloyd Morgan C. On modification and variation. Science 4 : — Lorenz K. Der Kumpan in der Umwelt des Vogels. J Ornithol 83 : — Marler P, Slabberkoorn H.
Nieman H-J. Developmental origins of the metabolic syndrome: prediction, plasticity, and programming. Physiol Rev 85 : — Trends Ecol Evol 21 : — Prenatally undernourished rats show increased preference for wheel running v. Br J Nutr : — Moczek AP. The nature of nurture and the future of evodevo: toward a theory of developmental evolution. Integr Compar Biol 52 : — The role of developmental plasticity in evolutionary innovation.
Moran NA. The evolutionary maintenance of alternative phenotypes. Amer Nat : — Maternal Effects as Adaptations. Evolution evolves: physiology returns to centre stage. Osborn HF. Ontogenic and phylogenic variation. Resource polyphenism increases species richness: a test of the hypothesis. Trends Ecol Evol 25 : — Piersma T, van Gils JA.
Pigliucci M. Phenotypic Plasticity: Beyond Nature and Nurture. Evolution: The Extended Synthesis. Rassoulzadegan M. An evolutionary role for RNA-mediated epigenetic variation? Rauschecker JP, Marler P. Imprinting and Cortical Plasticity. Animal Innovation. Rechavi O. Guest list or black list: heritable small RNAs as immunogenic memories. Trends Cell Biol 24 : — Remy JJ, Hobert O. An interneuronal chemoreceptor required for olfactory imprinting in C. Rowell CHF. The variable coloration of the Acridoid grasshoppers.
Adv Insect Physiol 8 : — Predictive adaptive responses: condition-dependent impact of adult nutrition and flight in the tropical butterfly Bicyclus anynana. Am Naturalist : — Exposure to prenatal psychobiological stress exerts programming influences on the mother and her fetus. Neuroendocrinology 95 : 7— Shettleworth SJ. Cognition, Evolution and Behavior , 2nd edn. Skinner BF. Selection by consequences. Slijper EJ. Biologic-anatomical investigations on the bipedal gait and upright posture in mammals, with s pecial reference to a little goat, born without forelegs.
I and II. Proc Kon Ned Akad Wetensch 45 : — Age at menarche: influences of prenatal and postnatal growth. J Clin Endocrinol Metab 92 : 46— Snell-Rood EC. Selective processes in development: Implications for the costs and benefits of phenotypic plasticity.
Integr Compar Biol 52 : 31— An overview of the evolutioary causes and consequences of behavioural plasticity. Big brains, enhanced cognition, and response of birds to novel environments. Spalding DA. Instinct with original observations on young animals. Macmillan's Mag 27 : — Spector T. Stouder C, Paoloni-Giacobino A. Transgenerational effects of the endocrine disruptor vinclozolin on the methylation pattern of imprinted genes in the mouse sperm.
Reproduction : — Metapopulation structure favors plasticity over local adaptation. Thorpe WH. Learning and Instinct in Animals.
Methuen: London, UK. The fitness costs of developmental canalization and plasticity. Sedentary behavior during postnatal life is determined by the prenatal environment and exacerbated by postnatal hypercaloric nutrition. Fetal origins of hyperphagia, obesity, and hypertension and postnatal amplification by hypercaloric nutrition.
Am J Physiol : E83—E Die Ausbildungs- und Berufssituation contergangeschadigter junger Erwachsener. Rehabilitation 28 : 78— Waddington CH. The Strategy of the Genes. The road to modularity. Wells MJ. Sensitization and the evolution of associative learning. In: Salanki J ed. Symposium on Neurobiology of Invertebrates.
Plenum: New York. West-Eberhard MJ. Developmental Plasticity and Evolution. Birds, behavior, and anatomical evolution. Wund MA. Assessing the impacts of phenotypic plasticity on evolution. Intergr Compar Biol 52 : 5— Download references. I thank three anonymous referees who took more than the usual amount of trouble when commenting on this article.
You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar. Correspondence to P Bateson. Reprints and Permissions. Bateson, P. Why are individuals so different from each other?. Heredity , — Download citation. Received : 17 March Revised : 10 June Accepted : 24 July Published : 19 November Issue Date : October Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:.
Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article. Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative. BMC Bioinformatics Biogerontology Journal of Pest Science Advanced search.
Skip to main content Thank you for visiting nature. Why are individuals so different from each other? Download PDF. Subjects Evolution. Abstract An important contributor to the differences between individuals derives from their plasticity. Introduction Many differences between individuals are undoubtedly because of differences in their genes.
Adaptability plasticity Accommodating to disruption of normal development An individual whose body has been damaged in an accident or who is burdened with a mutation that renders its body radically different from other individuals may be able to accommodate to such abnormality West-Eberhard, Rapid modification of behaviour One of the most primitive changes in behaviour in response to experience is nonspecific. Immunological plasticity In the immune system of humans and vertebrate animals, molecular plasticity takes the form of generating new antibodies to foreign proteins that hitherto have not been encountered by the individual.
Conditional plasticity Responses to predation or variation in food resources have provided some of the best examples of conditional responses to local environmental conditions. Many processes involved in plasticity Plasticity takes many different forms. Epigenetics A substantial body of evidence indicates, then, that individuals of the same species, the same age and the same sex may differ strikingly in their phenotypes.
How did plasticity evolve? Evolution of conditional plasticity East African Acridoid grasshoppers deposit black melanin in their cuticle if the reflectance of the ground is low when they hatch out, as it would be after a savannah fire Rowell,
0コメント