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from the if-your-parents-didn't-have-children,-then-you-probably-won't,-either dept.
Monogamy may have a telltale signature of gene activity
In the animal world, monogamy has some clear perks. Living in pairs can give animals some stability and certainty in the constant struggle to reproduce and protect their young—which may be why it has evolved independently in various species. Now, an analysis of gene activity within the brains of frogs, rodents, fish, and birds suggests there may be a pattern common to monogamous creatures. Despite very different brain structures and evolutionary histories, these animals all seem to have developed monogamy by turning on and off some of the same sets of genes.
"It is quite surprising," says Harvard University evolutionary biologist Hopi Hoekstra, who was not involved in the new work. "It suggests that there's a sort of genomic strategy to becoming monogamous that evolution has repeatedly tapped into."
Conserved transcriptomic profiles underpin monogamy across vertebrates (DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1813775116) (DX)
(Score: 5, Funny) by fadrian on Tuesday January 08 2019, @02:15PM (2 children)
My wife claims that it's the whole Y chromosome.
That is all.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 08 2019, @02:33PM
Did you pleasure another woman within a week of your wife whipping that one out?
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 08 2019, @07:17PM
Given that there are both men and women that can run around like they're in heat 24/7, and there are plenty of men that stay loyal their entire lives, I'd more likely claim it's a defective gene on the X chromosome. Women have two X's so it helps reduce the chance of the defective behavior from surfacing.