Beyond DNA: integrating inclusive inheritance into an extended theory of evolution

Danchin, Étienne; Charmantier, Anne; Champagne, Frances A.; Mesoudi, Alex; Pujol, Benoît; Blanchet, Simon

doi:10.1038/nrg3028

Cited by 669 publications

(546 citation statements)

References 142 publications

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“…Second, social learning is now recognised to be common across multiple taxa, not just humans. The existence of a second inheritance system -and potentially a third, if one also includes transgenerational epigenetic inheritance -means that standard explanations for phenotypic variation in terms purely of the natural selection of genetically-inherited variation will not be sufficient (Danchin et al 2011). Finally, when considering explanations for human behaviour, biologists sometimes consider 'culture' to be a vague and imprecise notion, instead …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Moreover, many of the cognitive biases discussed above have putative inclusive fitness benefits, such as keeping track of social relationships (Mesoudi et al 2006) and learning about disease-carrying substances (Eriksson and Coultas 2014). Others (myself included) have argued that non-genetic forms of inheritance such as cultural evolution can additionally constitute ultimate causes of behaviour and thus require a rethinking of the original proximate-ultimate scheme (Danchin et al 2011;Laland et al 2011;Mesoudi et al 2013). For a non-cultural species, the original scheme is fairly straightforward: ultimate historical causes involve genetic lineages connected via genetic descent, and ultimate selective causes involve the natural selection of genetic variation.…”

Section: Is Culture Proximate or Ultimate?mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cultural Evolution: A Review of Theory, Findings and Controversies

2015

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The last two decades have seen an explosion in research analysing cultural change as a Darwinian evolutionary process. Here I provide an overview of the theory of cultural evolution, including its intellectual history, major theoretical tenets and methods, key findings, and prominent criticisms and controversies. 'Culture' is defined as socially transmitted information. Cultural evolution is the theory that this socially transmitted information evolves in the manner laid out by Darwin in The Origin of Species, i.e. it comprises a system of variation, differential fitness and inheritance. Cultural evolution is not, however, neo-Darwinian, in that many of the details of genetic evolution may not apply, such as particulate inheritance and random mutation. Following a brief history of this idea, I review theoretical and empirical studies of cultural microevolution, which entails both selection-like processes wherein some cultural variants are more likely to be acquired and transmitted than others, plus transformative processes that alter cultural information during transmission. I also review how phylogenetic methods have been used to reconstruct cultural macroevolution, including the evolution of languages, technology and social organisation. Finally, I discuss recent controversies and debates, including the extent to which culture is proximate or ultimate, the relative role of selective and transformative processes in cultural evolution, the basis of cumulative cultural evolution, the evolution of large-scale human cooperation, and whether social learning is learned or innate. I conclude by highlighting the value of using evolutionary methods to study culture for both the social and biological sciences.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Is Culture Proximate or Ultimate?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Cultural Evolution: A Review of Theory, Findings and Controversies

2015

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“…Epigenetic variation can underpin developmental plasticity and canalization which brings about persistent developmental effects in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes (Danchin et al., 2011; Jablonka, 2013). Unlike an individual's genotype, the epigenetic state of an individual is dynamic and can change throughout its lifespan (Horvath, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Age‐ and quality‐dependent DNA methylation correlate with melanin‐based coloration in a wild bird

Soulsbury

Lipponen

Wood

et al. 2018

Ecology and Evolution

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Secondary sexual trait expression can be influenced by fixed individual factors (such as genetic quality) as well as by dynamic factors (such as age and environmentally induced gene expression) that may be associated with variation in condition or quality. In particular, melanin‐based traits are known to relate to condition and there is a well‐characterized genetic pathway underpinning their expression. However, the mechanisms linking variable trait expression to genetic quality remain unclear. One plausible mechanism is that genetic quality could influence trait expression via differential methylation and differential gene expression. We therefore conducted a pilot study examining DNA methylation at a candidate gene (agouti‐related neuropeptide: AgRP) in the black grouse Lyrurus tetrix. We specifically tested whether CpG methylation covaries with age and multilocus heterozygosity (a proxy of genetic quality) and from there whether the expression of a melanin‐based ornament (ultraviolet‐blue chroma) correlates with DNA methylation. Consistent with expectations, we found clear evidence for age‐ and heterozygosity‐specific patterns of DNA methylation, with two CpG sites showing the greatest DNA methylation in highly heterozygous males at their peak age of reproduction. Furthermore, DNA methylation at three CpG sites was significantly positively correlated with ultraviolet‐blue chroma. Ours is the first study to our knowledge to document age‐ and quality‐dependent variation in DNA methylation and to show that dynamic sexual trait expression across the lifespan of an organism is associated with patterns of DNA methylation. Although we cannot demonstrate causality, our work provides empirical support for a mechanism that could potentially link key individual factors to variation in sexual trait expression in a wild vertebrate.

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“…But now, with the new forms of variation created in the Cambrian "explosion" by this life process we now call development, came the potential for a new category of heritability by which new developmental paths could be transmitted to subsequent generations, through various forms of transgenerational effects. For example, the embedding of eggs, embryos, and fetuses within the protective internal environments of female fish, birds, and mammalian mothers not only functions to promote the survival of her immature young, but also serve as "inherited environments" that provide links between generations potentially capable of transmitting the effects of events in their own generation to the next (Danchin et al, 2011). Similarly, in the postnatal period, developmental effects can be transmitted across generations postnatally, through the previously described "hidden regulators" operating within the mother's interactions with her infants.…”

Section: When Expected Long-term Effects Of Early Experience Do Notmentioning

confidence: 99%

The emerging synthesis of development and evolution: A new biology for psychoanalysis

Hofer

2014

Neuropsychoanalysis

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Significant transformations have taken place in our understanding of evolution and development since the late nineteenth century, when the two seemed so closely related; at that time, the ideas of Charles Darwin, Ernst Haeckel, and other biologists played a prominent role in Freud's creation of psychoanalysis. During the twentieth century, as biological research reached the molecular level, biological concepts of development and of evolution veered progressively further from each other and further away from psychoanalysis. Then most recently, in response to a flood of discoveries in the last two decades, the long-separated fields of developmental and evolutionary biology have come together in the creation of a new field, informally referred to as "Evo-Devo." In this paper, I trace these remarkable changes, and discuss how these recent advances have returned biological concepts to a closer alignment with psychoanalytic principles regarding the role of early experience in long-term developmental change and the importance of the role that early parent-infant interactions play in shaping our lives and those of our children. I have illustrated the changes in our thinking that have taken place over the past half century by describing the different ways that I have thought about, puzzled over, and been enlightened by these changing concepts in the course of my psychobiological research on the roles of the mother-infant relationship in the development of a relatively simple model organism, the laboratory rat.

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Beyond DNA: integrating inclusive inheritance into an extended theory of evolution

Cited by 669 publications

References 142 publications

Cultural Evolution: A Review of Theory, Findings and Controversies

Cultural Evolution: A Review of Theory, Findings and Controversies

Age‐ and quality‐dependent DNA methylation correlate with melanin‐based coloration in a wild bird

The emerging synthesis of development and evolution: A new biology for psychoanalysis

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