BIOLOGICAL

BEGINNING

LESSON 2
NATURAL SELECTION AND
ADAPTIVE PROCESS
 Darwin’s theory makes these main arguments:

There is genetic variation in a species.

Some members of the species have different genes (and therefore different genetically influenced
traits) than other members of the species do. If all members of the species were genetically
identical, there would be no way for the genetic makeup of the species to change over time.
Because novel genes arise through errors in cell division all the time.
Some genes aid adaptation more than others do.
Those with the genes for strength and intelligence would likely be better able to adapt to their
environment—for example, to win fights for survival or to figure out how to obtain food.
Genes that aid their bearers in adapting to their environment will be passed to
future generations more frequently than genes that do not.
- This is the principle of natural selection—the idea that nature “selects,” or allows to survive and
reproduce, those members of a species whose genes permit them to adapt to their environment.
- Genes that reduce the chances that an individual will survive and reproduce will become rarer
over time because they will not be passed to many offspring.
- The genetic makeup of a species slowly changes—and will continue to change as long as
individuals with certain genetic makeups reproduce more frequently than individuals with other
genetic makeups.
The result is what Darwin marveled at when he conducted observations in the Galapagos
Islands: the incredible diversity of species on earth, each well adapted to its environment.
Connecting Evolution and Life-Span Development

According to life-span developmentalist Paul Baltes (2003), the benefits conferred by

evolutionary selection decrease with age. Natural selection has not weeded out many
harmful conditions and nonadaptive characteristics that appear among older adults.
Natural selection operates primarily on characteristics that are tied to reproductive fitness,
which extends through the earlier part of adulthood. Thus, says Baltes, selection primarily
operates during the first half of life.
BATA-BATA PAANO KA
GINAWA?
GENETIC FOUNDATIONS OF
DEVELOPMENT
“What is inherited is DNA. Everything else is developed.”
— James Tanner
 INDIVIDUAL HEREDITY

To understand how genes contribute to differences among humans, we must

start at conception—the moment when an egg is fertilized by a sperm—look
at the workings of genes, and then consider the mechanisms through which
genes can influence traits.
 GANITO KASI ‘YON.

Source: Original cartoon by Alex Martin

 GENETIC CODE

A few hours after sperm penetrates ovum, the sperm

cell begins to disintegrate, releasing its genetic material.
The nucleus of the ovum releases its own genetic
material, and a new cell nucleus is created from the
genetic material provided by mother and father.
This new cell, called a zygote and only the size of a
pinhead, is the beginning of a human. Conception has
occurred.
A sperm cell and an
ovum each
contribute 23
chromosomes to
the zygote to give it
46 chromosomes
total, organized
into 23 pairs.
 CELLS, CHROMOSOMES,
DNA, AND GENES.
(Top) The body contains trillions of cells. Each cell
contains a central structure, the nucleus.
(Middle) Chromosomes are threadlike structures
located in the nucleus of the cell. Chromosomes are
composed of DNA.
(Bottom) DNA has the structure of a spiral staircase. A
gene is a segment of DNA.
 CHROMOSOMES

Chromosomes are the threadlike bodies in the nucleus of each cell that are made up of
genes, the basic units of heredity.
Each chromosome pair—and of each pair of genes located on corresponding sites on a
chromosome pair—one member came from the father and one member came from the
mother.
Sperm and ova, unlike other cells, have only 23 chromosomes because they are produced
through the specialized process of cell division called meiosis.
The single-celled zygote formed at
conception becomes a multiple-
celled organism through the more
usual process of cell division,
mitosis.
During mitosis, a cell (and each of
its 46 chromosomes) divides to
produce two identical cells, each
containing the same 46
chromosomes.
 As the zygote moves through
the fallopian tube toward its
prenatal home in the uterus, it
first divides into two cells; the
two then become four, the four
become eight, and so on, all
through mitosis.
Except for sperm and ova, all
normal human cells contain
copies of the 46 chromosomes
provided at conception.

Mitosis continues throughout life,

creating new cells that enable us to
grow and replacing old cells that are
damaged.
Both members of a chromosome pair influence
the same characteristics. Each chromosome
consists of strands of deoxyribonucleic acid
(DNA), the double helix molecule whose
chemical code is our genetic endowment. DNA is
made up of sequences of the chemicals A
(adenine), C (cytosine), G (guanine), and T
(thymine). Some of these sequences are
functional units called genes. Geneticists used to
think humans had about 100,000 genes, but the
actual number is more like 20,000–25,000
(International Human Genome Sequencing
Consortium, 2004).
 Genetic Uniqueness and Relatedness

The genetic uniqueness of children of the same parents is even greater than this because of a quirk
of meiosis known as crossing over.
When pairs of chromosomes line up before they separate, they cross each other and parts of them
are exchanged, much as if you were to exchange a couple of fingers with a friend at the end of a
handshake.
In short, it is incredibly unlikely that there ever was or ever will be another human exactly like you
genetically.
The one exception is identical twins also called monozygotic twins because they result when
one fertilized ovum divides to form two or more genetically identical individuals.
Fraternal twins (also called dizygotic twins because two eggs are involved) result
when two ova are released at approximately the same time and each is fertilized by a
different sperm, as happens in about 1 of every 125 births (Plomin, 1990).
Fraternal twins are no more alike genetically than brothers and sisters born at different
times and can be of different sexes.
Fraternal twins tend to run in families and have become more common in recent years
because more couples are taking fertility drugs and undergoing in vitro fertilization
(Segal, 2005).
 Determination of Sex

Of the 23 pairs of chromosomes that each

individual inherits, 22 (called autosomes) are similar
in males and females. The chromosomes of the
23rd pair are the sex chromosomes.
A male child has one long chromosome called an X chromosome and a short, stubby
companion with far fewer genes called a Y chromosome. Females have two X
chromosomes.
A mother has only X chromosomes and a father’s sperm cell has either an X
chromosome or a Y chromosome depending on which sex chromosome a sperm
receives during meiosis),
it is the father who determines a child’s gender. If an ovum with its one X
chromosome is fertilized by a sperm bearing a Y chromosome, the product is an
XY zygote—a genetic male.
If a sperm carrying an X chromosome reaches the ovum first, the result is an XX
zygote—a genetic female.
 CHROMOSOME ABNORMALITIES

Genetic endowment can also influence human development through chromosome

abnormalities, in which a child receives too many or too few chromosomes (or abnormal
chromosomes) at conception.
Abnormalities (most) are caused by errors in chromosome division during meiosis. Through an
accident of nature, an ovum or sperm cell may be produced with more or fewer than the usual 23
chromosomes.
A zygote with the wrong number of chromosomes is spontaneously aborted; chromosome
abnormalities are the main cause of pregnancy loss. However, around 1 child in 160 is born with
more or, rarely, fewer chromosomes than the normal 46 (Simpson & Elias, 2003).
One familiar chromosome abnormality is Down syndrome, also known as trisomy 21
because it is associated with three rather than two 21st chromosomes. Children with
Down syndrome have distinctive eyelid folds, short stubby limbs, and thick tongues.
Their levels of intellectual functioning vary widely, but they are typically classified as
having some degree of mental retardation and therefore develop and learn at a slower pace
than most children.
Another example of chromosome abnormality: couples older than 40 have about 6 times
the risk of having a child with Down syndrome as couples younger than 35 (Fisch et al.,
2003). Why? As they age, ova and sperm are increasingly likely to be abnormal. Older
mothers and fathers are also more likely than younger ones to have been exposed to
environmental hazards that can damage ova or sperm—radiation, drugs, chemicals,
viruses (Strigini et al., 1990).
SOME CHROMOSOMAL ABNORMALITIES. The treatments for these
abnormalities do not necessarily erase the problem but may improve the individual’s
adaptive behavior and quality of life.
TEMPERAMENT AND PERSONALITY

As parents know well, different babies have different personalities. In trying to describe
infant personality, researchers have focused on aspects of temperament—tendencies to
respond in predictable ways, such as sociability and emotional reactivity, that serve as the
building blocks of later personality.
Shared environmental influences can be important at times.
Factors such as poor parent–child relationships and parent–child conflict sometimes
cause multiple children in the same home to develop psychological problems (Burt, 2009).
Behavioral geneticists have discovered repeatedly that when it comes to many aspects of
personality, unique, nonshared environmental influences rather than shared ones, along
with genes, seem to be most significant.
There is little evidence that parents mold all their children’s personalities in similar
directions. Increasingly, it seems more useful to ask how nonshared experiences inside and
outside the home steer brothers and sisters along different developmental paths.
 PSYCHOLOGICAL DISORDERS

Usually it’s a matter of multiple genes, along with multiple environmental factors, each
making a small contribution to the development of a disorder.
Clearly, then, environmental factors also contribute significantly to this mental illness.
People do not inherit psychological disorders; they inherit predispositions to
develop disorders.
Genes and environment then interact so that a person who has inherited a genetic
susceptibility to schizophrenia will likely not develop the disorder unless he also has
stressful experiences that trigger the illness.
In short, children may inherit predispositions to develop several problems and disorders;
their experiences will interact with their genetic makeup to determine how well adjusted
they turn out to be.
Such research also shows that it is overly simple and often wrong to assume that any
behavioral problem a child displays must be the result of bad parenting.
END