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

2017年，该应用程序的早期版本在所有类别中获得了“强”，在提案的优点下获得了“中等”。因此，我获得了为期两年的NSERC发现发展赠款（DDG），以促进该提案的发展，以获得全额资助。从那以后，我收集了一个大型的试点研究，探索免疫标记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（进化与人类行为，IF=3.62），将唾液免疫球蛋白A与声音男性气质联系起来。 我还提出了两项新的研究，并结合基因免疫标记相互作用的预测第二性征的探索，完善了应用程序。我还利用我的DDG资金接受了静脉切开术的培训，以最大限度地提高未来的资金使用效率，突出了我对这一重要工作的奉献精神。 能够识别健康配偶的祖先在繁殖方面具有很大的优势。当然，免疫功能不能直接观察。相反，好基因性选择假说提出，个体依赖于形态线索来告知潜在配偶的免疫能力（Sugiyama，2005）。反过来，生物体可能会通过宣传他们的“好基因”来竞争配偶，这些基因的产生在免疫学上是昂贵的（Zahavi，1975）。免疫能力缺陷假说（Immunocompatibility Handicap Hypothesis，ICHH）是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薄弱（汉密尔顿，尤其是在人类中。 拟议的研究计划通过系统地评估：1）假定的第二性征的发展成本（例如，男性的声音和面部阳刚之气;身高）确实表明潜在的免疫能力，无论是在遗传（主要组织相容性）或功能（先天和适应性免疫）水平，2）是否独特的女性第二性征（声音和面部女性气质、乳房大小和形状）告知免疫能力、生育能力或两者，3）青春期前的免疫功能是否预测性成熟介导的第二性征的发育，是否父母的第二性征实际上预测后代的免疫能力，以及4）女性的男性吸引力的看法是否告知其潜在的免疫能力。总之，这个雄心勃勃但可行性高的计划将提供与突出的人类第二性征相关的免疫功能的多种多水平标志物的第一次全面检查。这将是ICHH在人类中的首次大规模测试。来自这些研究的证据将改变该领域对人类性选择的理解，支持或质疑当代进化理论中引用最广泛但证据不足的假设之一。

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.