The good genes sexual selection controversy: Does the Handicap Principal apply to modern humans?

2017年，该申请的早期版本在所有类别中都获得了“强”和“中等”的评价。因此，我获得了为期两年的国家科学研究委员会发现发展补助金（DDG），以促进该提案的发展，并获得全额资助。此后，我收集了一项大型试点研究，探索免疫标记物在预测男性第二性征中的作用。我已经发表了这个建议的基础（进化和人类行为，IF=3.62），将唾液免疫球蛋白a与声音中的男子气概联系起来。我还提出了两项新的研究，并将基因-免疫标记相互作用在预测第二性征方面的探索纳入其中，从而改进了应用程序。我还利用我的DDG资金接受了静脉切开术培训，以便最大限度地提高未来的资金使用效率，突出了我对这项重要工作的奉献精神。能够找到健康配偶的祖先在繁殖方面有很大的优势。当然，免疫功能不能直接观察。相反，优良基因的性选择假说提出，个体依靠形态线索来告知潜在伴侣的免疫能力（Sugiyama, 2005）。反过来，生物可能会通过在免疫上昂贵的性状来宣传它们的“好基因”来竞争配偶（Zahavi, 1975）。这种免疫能力障碍假说（ICHH）是所有进化生物学中被引用最多的假说之一。然而令人不安的是，支持第二性征和免疫功能之间联系的经验证据很弱（汉密尔顿，尤其是在人类中）。拟议的研究计划通过系统评估来解决这一基本的知识差距：1)假设的昂贵发展的第二性特征(例如，男性的声音和面部男性气质；身高)确实在遗传（主要组织相容性）或功能（先天和适应性免疫）水平上表明潜在的免疫能力，2)独特的女性第二性特征（声音和面部女性化，乳房大小和形状）是否影响免疫能力，生育能力，或两者兼而有之，3)青春期前的免疫功能是否预测性激素介导的第二性特征的发育，父母的第二性征是否真的能预测后代的免疫能力，以及4)女性对男性吸引力的感知是否会影响她们潜在的免疫能力。总之，这个雄心勃勃但高度可行的项目将首次全面检查与人类突出的第二性征有关的免疫功能的多种多层次标记。这将是ICHH在人体上的首次大规模试验。来自这些研究的证据将通过支持或质疑当代进化理论中被广泛引用但证据不足的假设之一，改变该领域对人类性选择的理解。

In 2017, an early version of this application received 'strong' across all categories and 'moderate' under merit of the proposal. As a result, I was awarded a two-year NSERC Discovery Development Grant (DDG) to foster development of the proposal toward full funding. I have since collected a large pilot study exploring the role of immune markers in predicting male secondary sexual characteristics. I have published groundwork for this proposal (Evolution and Human Behavior, IF=3.62) linking salivary Immunoglobulin-A to vocal masculinity.  I have also refined the application by proposing two new studies and incorporating the exploration of gene-immune marker interactions in predicting secondary sex characteristics. I also utilised my DDG funding to become trained in phlebotomy in order to maximise future funding use efficiency, highlighting my dedication to this important body of work. Ancestors who could identify healthy mates were at a substantial reproductive advantage. Of course, immune function cannot be observed directly. Rather, good-genes sexual selection hypothesis proposes that individuals rely on morphological cues to inform a potential mate's immunocompetence (Sugiyama, 2005). In turn, organisms might compete for mates by advertising their 'good genes' via traits that are immunologically-costly to produce (Zahavi, 1975). This immunocompetence handicap hypothesis (ICHH) is one of the most cited hypotheses in all of evolutionary biology. Yet disconcertingly, empirical evidence supporting a link between secondary sex characteristics and immune function is weak (Hamilton especially among humans.  The proposed program of research addresses this fundamental gap in knowledge by systematically assessing: 1) whether putative costly-to-develop secondary sex characteristics (e.g., male vocal and facial masculinity; height) do indeed indicate underlying immunocompetence at either the genetic (major histocompatability) or functional (innate and adaptive immunity) levels, 2) whether uniquely female secondary sexual traits (vocal and facial femininity, breast size and shape) inform immunocompetence, fertility, or both, 3) whether immune function pre-puberty predicts sex hormone-mediated development of secondary sex traits, whether parental secondary sexual characteristics actually predict offspring immunocompetence, and 4) whether female perceptions of male attractiveness inform their underlying immunocompetence. Together, this ambitious yet high-feasibility  program will provide the first comprehensive examination of diverse multi-level markers of immune function  in relation to prominent human secondary sexual characteristics. It will be the first large-scale test of  the ICHH in humans. Evidence from these studies will transform the field's understanding of sexual selection in humans by either supporting or calling into question one of the most widely-cited, yet poorly evidenced, hypotheses in contemporary evolutionary theory.