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Evolutionary biology

Green beard as death warrant

Nature volume 394, pages 521–522 (1998) Cite this article

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The Gradgrindian view of science — facts come first, ideas later — is rarely true, and there are few more direct demonstrations of that than the discovery of a phenomenon that previously existed only in theory. Genetics is rich in such phenomena, and an example is provided on page 573of this issue1, where Keller and Ross describe how they have identified evidence of a ‘green-beard’ gene. Quibbles over how one defines these genes make it hard to say whether this a ‘first’, and Keller and Ross themselves cite another candidate2.

The idea of green-beard genes was invented by Hamilton3, and named by Dawkins4. A basic question about the genetics of social actions is how a gene can spread by recognizing and interacting with individuals carrying copies of itself. The likely way is through kinship, and inclusive fitness theory contains many empirical examples of this. But, to isolate the phenomenon in its starkest form, Hamilton proposed a gene that does three things. It causes its bearer to display an observable and distinctive trait (the ‘green beard’); to distinguish between individuals that do not display the trait and those that do; and to be altruistic to those that do. This gene has the capacity to recognize individuals with copies of itself, and helps them, and so helps itself.

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Figure 1: Red fire ant queen and workers — here as attendants, not executioners.

References

  1. Keller, L. & Ross, K. G. Nature 394,573-575 (1998).

  2. Haig, D. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 93, 6547-6551 (1996).

  3. Hamilton, W. D. J. Theor. Biol. 7,17-52 (1964).

  4. Dawkins, R. The Selfish Gene(Oxford Univ. Press, New York, 1976).

  5. Ross, K. G. Genetics 145,961-974 (1997).

  6. Grosberg, R. K. & Quinn, J. F. Nature 322,456-459 (1986).

  7. Ridley, M. & Grafen, A. Anim. Behav. 29,954-955 (1981).

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  1. St Johns College, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3JP, UK

    Alan Grafen

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  1. Alan Grafen
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Grafen, A. Green beard as death warrant. Nature 394, 521–522 (1998). https://doi.org/10.1038/28948

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