Thyroid rhythm phenotypes and hominid evolution: a new paradigm implicates pulsatile hormone secretion in speciation and adaptation changes

Thyroid hormones (THs, T 3/T 4) are essential central regulators that link many biological tasks, including embryonic and post-natal growth, reproductive function, and the behavioral and physiological responses to stress. Recently I proposed a novel theory to explain the role of THs in vertebrate evolution. Here I review the concept and discuss its ability to explain changes over time in hominid morphology, behavior and life history. THs are produced in a distinctly pulsatile manner and appear to generate species-specific TH rhythms with distinct ontogenic shifts. Individual variations in genetically controlled TH rhythms (TR phenotypes) must generate coordinated individual variation in morphology, reproduction and behavior within populations. Selection for any manifestation of a particular TR phenotype in an ancestral population selects all traits under thyroid control, resulting in rapid and well-coordinated changes in descendants. The concept provides the first really plausible explanation for a number of phenomena, including the convergent evolution of bipedalism in early hominids, species-specific sexual dimorphism, coordinated changes in morphology, brain function and gut length over time in hominids, cold adaptation in Homo neanderthalensis, the possible independent evolution of H. sapiens in Asia, and regional adaptation of hominid populations. This new paradigm provides a unique theoretical framework for explaining human origins that has important implications for human health.