From: gts (gts@optexinc.com)
Date: Mon Sep 23 2002 - 08:57:08 MDT
At 08:14 PM 9/22/2002 -0700, spike wrote:
<<After seeing this rural community first hand, I
began pondering mechanisms which would explain
why humans may evolve more quickly than similar
apes.>>
Here is one theory:
Several million years ago our human ancestors lost the ability to
synthesize vitamin C. With the loss of this trait they became dependant
on external dietary sources for this vitamin, mainly fruits, which were
at that time very plentiful in the jungle environment in which they
lived (thus allowing for the loss of the genetic trait). Our primitive
ancestors later migrated into environments not rich in fruits and
vegetables. Vitamin C deficiency then became commonplace.
Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant. Antioxidants help to protect DNA
from mutation. This leads to a novel theory of why humans evolve faster
than apes: with the loss of the ability to produce vitamin C, human DNA
became more susceptible to mutation, which increased the rate of
evolution of humans vs their ape-like ancestors.
Presumably modern apes also have retained their natural ability to
produce vitamin C in the same manner as our ape-like ancestors, (though
I do not know this for a fact).
-gts
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