Are minions related to humans? Two students from the University of Leicester (UK), Krisho Manoharan and Ruth Sang Jones, carried out a study to determine the origin of these little yellow characters. In it they compare the genetic makeup of humans to these curious googly-eyed creatures.
The authors took into account the evolutionary data explained in the movie that saw the minions being born: ‘ Gru, my favorite villain ‘. In the tape, it is stated that minions were born 400 million years ago. Thus, taking this data into account, and putting on the table both the pigmentation of their skin -in yellow color-, their linguistic ability and the progress of their eyes, they identified several factors of their ‘genome’ that make them related to humans. . The minions would be ancestors of human beings.
The minion genome
Four factors would define minions as ancestors of humans:
The chromatophary gene : The dromatophary gene, key in the pigmentation of animals such as fish, amphibians, crustaceans or cephalopods, would explain the striking yellow color of the minions’ skin. Specifically, xanthophores (yellow pigments). The fact that the minions love bananas would only favor the maintenance of this peculiar yellow tone.
Homeotic genes : By having altered several of the genes responsible for development, genetic mutations have occurred that have caused the appearance of alterations in their morphogenesis. Thus, homeotic genes (present in most living beings, including humans) would explain the disproportion of their body tending to dwarfism, either due to achondroplasia or hypochondroplasia. In the case of minions, the FGFR3 gene most likely underwent mutations resulting in a large skull and very short arms and legs.
The PAX6 gene: Some of the minions (like Stuart) have only one eye, a circumstance that would be explained by a mutation in this gene, responsible for the development of the brain and eyes during embryonic development, which would have caused some to be born with one eye and with the need to use glasses to see better.
The FoxP2 gene: We now focus on speech. This gene is crucial in the development of speech and language (and is not unique to humans), so a mutation in FoxP2 would have caused a specific communication disorder, generating a fairly primary human language that mimics in a certain sense the sound of human language (pacifier = toy).
Despite the fact that minions are still animated characters who love fruits (especially bananas!), The minion species would be the result of a compendium of genetic mutations as we have just seen, which would have come to the Earth at the same time as tetrapods (terrestrial vertebrates with two pairs of limbs).
