4 ms·
From the article: "If a woman with only Neu5Ac sialic acids mated with a man who still expressed Neu5Gc, her immune system may have rejected that man’s sperm or
by SubiculumCode 6y ago
From the article: "If a woman with only Neu5Ac sialic acids mated with a man who still expressed Neu5Gc, her immune system may have rejected that man’s sperm or the fetus that developed from it. This fertility barrier might have helped divide Homo populations into different species more than 2 million years ago, the researchers speculated."
If it was a single mutation with such a drastic effect on breed ability, how could the mutation have had a chance to spread?
- BoiledCabbage 6y agoMaybe it beat out its ancestors that had 4 variants instead.
- SubiculumCode 6y agoSeems more likely, I suppose. But it would seem hard to maintain a coexisting, yet reproductively incompatible variants.
- labawi 6y agoI'd guess intoleration of Neu5Gc only came in later generations. Article says there were intense adjustments to the immune system after dropping Neu5Gc.