Lecture (Jan/09/2012) How does natural selection work? Alleles frequency allow natural selection to work .

Heritable traits change allele frequency.

Industrial Melanism Birds see the dark colored moths more frequently . A2 causes dark color allele, A1 causes white color allele. 75% of the allele in the beginning contains dark allele. White allele, although recessive, is increasing. Change in allele frequency occurs.

Antibiotics Resistance: M.Tuberculosis Nutrition, sanitation decreased the deaths due to the disease. Rates of TB started to surge in the 80s due to evolution Mutation in the bacteria causes resistance to antibiotic. Single point mutation. Antibiotic effective bacteria die off because of antibiotic. Antibiotic resistance strain increases allele frequency, and proliferation of the antibiotic resistance bacteria are reproduced

Galapagos Finches Food sources reflect the beak size, shape and body size in these finches. Wider beak phenotype in Finches are evident after the drought. Broader beaks are survivors and reproduce more. In seasons with plenty of resources, small, pointed beaks have high reproduction. BMP4 gene correspond to the width of the beak of finches. Human manipulation with RNA affected the developing embryo and beak width in finches. When Bmp4 is manipulated in chickens , it caused a similar effect as shown in finches. Bmp4 is present before and after the drought, only the expression is changed.

What did the scientists do? Get permit to kill finches. Kill baby finches and perform in situ hybridizations Kill both transgenic chicken and normal chicken and compare in situ hybridizations Used prior knowledge Peter and Rosemary Grant does research and field work!

Candidate Gene study In Nebraska, mouse are found in lighter soil and darker soil In light colored habitat, light colored mice is found. Dark colored habitat have dark colored mice.

Same gene can involve in both dark and light color. Deletion in a single amino acid in light colored individuals, but not in dark individuals. Are light and dark mice gonna become different species? No significant differences in other chromosomes and other DNA, so no speciation is happening.

Unintended Artificial Selection Crash in cod fish market. Small size, early maturation, etc... in animals that humans predate. Human predation indiscriminately selecting individuals (the most fit individuals)

Evolution is Not goal-directed or progressive No hierarchy of evolution. Evolution is NOT progressive. Evolution does not increase complexity. Ex) Whales losing legs, snakes losing legs, etc Complex traits got lost. Kin selection. Altruist behaviours will be favoured Selfish gene survives

Not all traits are adaptive Vestigial traits.

Genetic constraints Most traits are influenced by multiple genes. Trade off occurs in traits.

Historical constraints. Present variation biases future possibilities.

Formal constraints- Evolution within laws of physics Fitness Tradeoff Human trade off pelvis size with brain size. Huge headed babies come at a cost.

Chapter 25: Evolutionary Processes The hardy-Weinberg principle Biased mating

Four factors that change allele frequencies: natural selection, genetic drift, gene flow, and mutation. Hardy-Weinberg principle

Developed a mathematical model to analyze allele frequency.