The Daily Dose: The evolution of an altruism gene

Now hear this: One scientist gives the Mona Lisa a voice.
(Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

In Today’s Dose…

Pick of the Crop: The evolution of an altruism gene

The Lighter Side: Mona Lisa speaks; bad buzz for global warming

Rest of the Best: Religion joined science after 1979 in Iran; evolution seen in a yogurt cup; Metanexus Institute awards $4.6 million to further scientific research on religion

Pick of the Crop

The evolution of an altruism gene

Science & Theology News has published many articles on altruism over the years, and now evidence is available that sheds more light on the biological origins of altruistic behavior:

For the first time, scientists say they have traced the origin of an “altruism gene,” possibly shedding light on the nagging mystery of how generosity and cooperation evolved.

The findings, they add, suggest that at least some altruism genes evolved from genes that originally served to suppress some biological activities in lean times.

The scientists traced an “altruism gene” in Volvox carterii, a primitive multi-cellular creature, to its one-celled ancestor.

The new research might also begin to answer a nagging question often put to evolutionary biologists: If evolution requires self-centeredness in terms of mating to pass along genes, how could self-sacrifice and altruism actually have evolved? It seems the answer might be deceptively simple: the genes that facilitated delayed gratification were co-opted to enable other-centered behaviors.

In Volvox, … evolution apparently co-opted the gene for the grander goal of cellular cooperation.

This transformation may have required no change in the gene itself, they argued; all that needed to change was the way it was activated and inactivated. Every organism has this ability to switch genes on and off. It’s often accomplished by coating the relevant DNA with specialized molecules blocking its use.

In evolutionary terms, [Aurora Nedelcu of the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, Canada] said, there may be no fundamental difference between altruism in Volvox and the generosity that inspires people to give, say, to charity. Both might ultimately stem from similar mechanisms.

“I do believe that the same principle applies,” she wrote in an email. Any gene that allows someone to delay gratification for future benefits, she speculated, might be co-opted by evolution to shift those benefits to others instead.

Variable or stressful environments may encourage this process, she added. Periodic hardship frequently spurs the evolution of survival mechanisms that involve suppressing biological activities, like Crsc13. Moreover, in tough times, people often come together; so do many bacteria.

But researchers will have to write histories of more “altruism genes” in different organisms before drawing general conclusions of this sort, Nedelcu cautioned: “definitely, more studies are needed.”

The Volvox finding is “exciting,” said Gene Robinson of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, a specialist in the genetics of social behavior who wasn’t involved in the research. “It overall demonstrates that comparative genomic analyses, done on the right sets of species, hold great promise” for charting the evolution of sociality.

For more on this topic, see STNews.org’s overview of altruism.

The Lighter Side

Mona Lisa speaks

From CNN:

The Mona Lisa's smile may always remain a mystery, but it is now possible to hear what her voice would have sounded like, thanks to a Japanese acoustics expert.

That’s the good news. The bad news is that she probably sounded like Paris Bennett from American idol.

Bad buzz for global warming

A CNN reporter noted that the Arctic was warmed naturally by greenhouse gases 55 million years ago, so much so that it “might have been the ideal ancient vacation hotspot with a 74-degree Fahrenheit (23-degree Celsius) average temperature, alligator ancestors and palm trees.” But like today, there were also pests:

"It probably was [a tropical paradise] but the mosquitoes were probably the size of your head," said Yale geology professor Mark Pagani, a study co-author.

Fair enough. And with global temperatures heading up again, now might be a good time to buy stock in the insect repellant companies.

Rest of the Best

Religion joined science after 1979 in Iran | “Mullah Hassan Khomeini said on Wednesday that the Islamic Revolution reestablished the bond between science and religion.” (Persian Journal)

Evolution seen in a yogurt cup | “The ability to trace the transformation of Lactobacillus bulgaricus(L. bulgaricus), a common bacterial culture in yogurt, illustrates the penetrating insight into evolutionary processes that DNA analysis now gives biologists. No longer are they limited in their study of an organism's changes in form and function. They can read those changes as they are written into the organism's genetic code.” (The Christian Science Monitor)

Metanexus Institute awards $4.6 million to further scientific research on religion | “The Philadelphia-based Metanexus Institute announced today the awarding of $4.6 million to fund 11 research teams seeking to further the scientific understanding of religion and spirituality. Grants in the Templeton Advanced Research Project (TARP), funded by the John Templeton Foundation as part of its mission to advance religion and science, were made by competitive application from more than 400 qualified proposals.” (PRNewswire)

Story tips? E-mail mdonnelly@stnews.org

Matt Donnelly is acquisitions editor at Science & Theology News.

The Daily Dose is a compilation of news from outside sources. Science & Theology News and STNews.org are not responsible for the content of any external links contained in this column, and the ideas expressed in those linked articles do not reflect the opinions of Science & Theology News or STNews.org.