It has been 4.6 billion years since the birth of the earth. In the long history, the earth has developed from the simplest single-celled organisms to such rich and diverse species today. For different species, evolution to what it is today is inseparable from two aspects, one is natural selection, and the other is genetic mutation. Reproductive isolation has gradually begun to appear between different species, which means that genetic communication cannot be carried out, and this is also an important reason for species diversity. What would happen if there were no reproductive isolation in the biological world?
Many species may have the same ancestor in ancient times, which shows that their genetic relationship is very close, and their genes are very similar in ancient times. But now it may develop into different species, so there will be reproductive isolation, there is no way to hybridize to produce offspring. For example, it is now pointed out in “Theory of Evolution” that humans and chimpanzees are related, and the genetic similarity can reach 98%, then can chimpanzees and human cells be hybridized to produce some new species? A scientist in the Soviet Union did such an experiment for this.
The scientist’s name was Ilya Ivanov, who was well-known in the biology community at the time, and his main research field was the hybridization between animals and artificial insemination. Once he crossed the horses of the Soviet army with the horses with strong athletic ability selected to produce very powerful war horses. In addition, he also tried to create a new species, for example, he successfully hybridized horses and donkeys and a hybrid product appeared, which is the mule we are familiar with. And we all know that although mules are very powerful, they cannot produce offspring. But in order to prove that hybridization can make animals stronger, Ivanov is constantly experimenting, and even wants to hybridize humans and gorillas.
Because of the official support and funding of this experiment at that time, Ivanov went to Guinea to select suitable chimpanzees. So what is the essence of this experiment? In fact, it is to fuse the reproductive cells of human and chimpanzee to form a fertilized egg, and then implant the embryo into the animal’s uterus for growth and development, which he believes is completely achievable. First, Ivanov combined the male sperm with the egg cells of the female orangutan, and got the help of a doctor. However, after examining the female orangutan, it was found that the conception was not successful, so he started the first 2 ways of thinking.
One such idea is to combine chimpanzee sperm cells with female egg cells, and then move them into the female’s uterus for development. However, it can be said that this is a practice that violates humanitarian and ethical practices. This kind of experiment was stopped and opposed by many people. However, he brought a few chimpanzees back to the Soviet Union and recruited female volunteers. What he didn’t expect was that 5 women would really participate in the experiment. But as far as I know, the experiment was also unsuccessful. This is because before the experiment started, the gorillas died one after another, and when he wanted to return to look for the chimpanzees, he was opposed again at this time. Exiled, so guess that at that time his experiment did not go smoothly.
In fact, it can be seen that although the genetic similarity between humans and chimpanzees is very high, it is impossible to cross successfully and produce new species. It is important to know that chimpanzees have 24 pairs of chromosomes, and humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes, which means that there may be certain abnormalities in these aspects, and this is also the main manifestation of reproductive isolation on abnormal substances, if the two cells are fused , Then abnormal fertilized eggs may appear during the process of meiosis at this time, and there is no way to develop successfully. And as early as in ancient times, there were differences in the evolution of humans and chimpanzees, and the differences between humans and chimpanzees are very wide, so it can be seen that reproductive isolation cannot be broken. Of course, there are exceptions. For example, some bacteria can break through reproductive isolation and merge with each other.
What if there is no reproductive isolation between organisms?
Since some bacteria or certain organisms can break reproductive isolation, what if reproductive isolation no longer exists in the animal world? In fact, by that time, the world may become very chaotic. There may be some hybrid species everywhere, and new species are constantly emerging. We have no way to study their characteristics, and we don’t know if they will appear. In some cases of variation, the boundaries between species will no longer be clear at that time. In addition, monsters like human heads and birds may also appear in our lives. Although the disappearance of reproductive isolation has led to an increase in species, it will cause the genes of organisms to tend to be the same. In this way, the ability to withstand environmental changes may be weak.
We can see that almost all reproductive isolation between organisms cannot be broken, and if it is blindly broken or some hybridization experiments are carried out, some genetic pollution or chaos may be brought about.