{"id":101270,"date":"2020-01-23T00:21:54","date_gmt":"2020-01-23T08:21:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2020\/01\/two-mutations-triggered-an-evolutionary-leap-500-million-years-ago"},"modified":"2020-01-23T00:21:54","modified_gmt":"2020-01-23T08:21:54","slug":"two-mutations-triggered-an-evolutionary-leap-500-million-years-ago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2020\/01\/two-mutations-triggered-an-evolutionary-leap-500-million-years-ago","title":{"rendered":"Two mutations triggered an evolutionary leap 500 million years ago"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Circa 2013<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>In a feat of \u201cmolecular time travel,\u201d the researchers resurrected and analyzed the functions of the ancestors of genes that play key roles in modern human reproduction, development, immunity and cancer. By re-creating the same DNA changes that occurred during those genes\u2019 ancient history, the team showed that two mutations set the stage for hormones like estrogen, testosterone and cortisol to take on their crucial present-day roles.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cChanges in just two letters of the genetic code in our deep evolutionary past caused a massive shift in the function of one protein and set in motion the evolution of our present-day hormonal and reproductive systems,\u201d said Joe Thornton, PhD, professor of human genetics and ecology &amp; evolution at the University of Chicago, who led the study.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf those two mutations had not happened, our bodies today would have to use different mechanisms to regulate pregnancy, libido, the response to stress, kidney function, inflammation, and the development of male and female characteristics at puberty,\u201d Thornton said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Circa 2013 In a feat of \u201cmolecular time travel,\u201d the researchers resurrected and analyzed the functions of the ancestors of genes that play key roles in modern human reproduction, development, immunity and cancer. By re-creating the same DNA changes that occurred during those genes\u2019 ancient history, the team showed that two mutations set the stage [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":513,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,385,412,1515],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-101270","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biotech-medical","category-evolution","category-genetics","category-time-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101270","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/513"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101270"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101270\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101270"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101270"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101270"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}