what darwin never knew
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What Darwin Never Knew. How Genetics influences Evolutionary Thought. Video Clip. Variation Darwin got right Darwin's idea has stood the test of time Recombination & Mutation. Natural selection. Sources of Variation. Mutation Asexual or sexual reproducing organisms - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
What Darwin Never Knew
How Genetics influences Evolutionary Thought
Video Clip
● Variation● Darwin got right● Darwin's idea has stood
the test of time● Recombination & Mutation
● Natural selection
Sources of Variation
● Mutation– Asexual or sexual
reproducing organisms– Can be beneficial,
negative or neutral depending on environmental conditions the organism finds itself
● Recombination– Gene shuffling through
sexual reproduction– This provides MOST of
the heritable differences between generations
– In humans: 8.4 million different combinations of genes w/ 23 chromosomes
Evolution in terms of Genetics
● Species = individuals that can interbreed with viable offspring
● Share a common group of genes = gene pool
● Gene pool = all genes, all different alleles that are present in a population
● Relative frequency = number of times that allele occurs in a gene pool
● Usually a percentage● NOTHING TO DO WITH
DOMINANCE
Evolution in Genetic Terms
● Evolution = ANY change in relative frequency of alleles in a population
Traits
● Single gene =● controlled by a single
gene (two alleles)● Remember that most
genes have more than two options, so still a lot of variability
● Polygeneic =● controlled by two or more
genes (four or more alleles)
● Many possible genotypes
Traits
Single Gene● Natural selection on a
single gene can lead to changes in allele frequencies –> industrial melanism
Polygenic● Effects of natural selection
are more complex, affect the DISTRIBUTION of phenotypes
Selective Pressure
● Recall that selection causes some traits to survive and spread, while others are lost
● A selective pressure determines which traits are successful
Types of Selection
● Selection pressures
Human Activity as Selective Pressure
● Human activity provides some of the strongest selection pressure in the world today
● Examples:– Antibiotic Use &
Resistance– Habitat Destruction– Over Hunting
Genetic Drift & Gene Flow
● Natural Selection is NOT the only source of change● Alleles can become more or less common by chance● Remember that genetics is a game of chance &
probability● Smaller populations are more affected by this (smaller
gene pool)
● Genetic drift
● Factors affecting the gene pool
Random Changes in Genetic Drift
● Founder Effect– When a new population is formed from a subset of a
larger one, there will be changes in allele frequency
– See example slide.
● The founder effect
Random Changes in Genetic Drift
● Bottleneck Effect– Occurs when a large, genetically diverse population is
drastically reduced by a catastrophic, non-selective event.
– Genetic diversity of survivors is likely to be much lower than that of the original population, even as a population reestablishes itself this low diversity is maintained
– Cheetahs
Speciation
● Natural selection CAN change the relative frequencies of alleles
● Can lead to speciation = changes in a species' gene pool that can create a reproductive isolation between the groups; creating a separate species
Types of Speciation
● Behavioral Isolation– 2 populations can interbreed but have differences in
courtship or other reproductive strategies
Types of Speciation
● Geographic Isolation– 2 populations are separated by geographic barriers
● Mountains, rives, etc.
Types of Speciation
● Temporal Isolation– 2 populations reproduce at different times
Types of Evolution
● Microevolution– Any change in allele
frequency over a long period of time
● Macroevolution– Large scale
evolutionary pattern or process change over a longer period of time
Patterns of Macroevolution
● Divergent Evolution● Convergent Evolution● Coevolution
Patterns: Divergent Evolution
● Two or more related species become more and more dissimilar
Patterns: Convergent Evolution
● Unrelated species become more and more similar as they become adapted to similar environments
● Recall analogous structures
Patterns: Coevolution
● 2 species evolve in response to changes in each other over time– Insects & flowering Plants– Mammals & Flowering Plants– Predator & Prey – CLIP– Parasites & Hosts