THE EVOLUTION

OF
UNDERSTANDING EVOLUTION

January 2004

Support for this project has been provided by: The National Science Foundation under grant no. 0096613.

September 2005

Support for this project has been provided by: The Howard Hughes Medical Institute under grant no. 51003439.

January 2011 in partnership with AIBS and NESCent

Support for this project has been provided by: The National Science Foundation under grant no. 0918741.

Four Factors in the site evolution:

EVAC discussions Awareness that 30% of the UE audience is at the undergraduate level

A meeting of the minds in 2008 UE Advisors

UE Advisory Board
Paul Beardsley BSCS Rodger W. Bybee Director emeritus of BSCS

Steven B. Case University of Kansas Judy Diamond University of Nebraska State Museum Sam Donovan University of Pittsburg Kristin Jenkins National Evolutionary Synthesis Center Joe Levine Author of biology texts Dennis Liu Howard Hughes Medical Institute M. Patricia Morse Professor Emeritus University of Washington Paul Jean Narguizian California State University, Los Angeles Richard T. O'Grady American Institute of Biological Sciences Eugenie C. Scott National Center for Science Education Kirsten Swinstrom Santa Rosa Junior College Lisa D. White San Francisco State University Brian M. Wiegmann National Evolutionary Synthesis Center

Fourth Factor in the site evolution:

Successful submission of a CCLI proposal in 2009

Goals and objectives Encourage college biology instructors to integrate evolutionary conceptsespecially the applications and relevance of evolutionthroughout their biology teaching Encourage college biology instructors to spend more class time on evolution-related concepts and emphasize the currency of evolution research in their instruction Encourage college biology instructors to use pedagogical techniques supported by education research in their evolution instruction Ultimately, of course, this project aims to impact college students.

Understanding Evolution teacher advisory board UE TAB

Funded by a CCLI grant, these individuals joined the UE team in 2009 to provide expertise and content review for the expansion of the UE site at the undergraduate level: Robin Bingham, Professor of Biology at Western State College, Gunnison, CO

Jean DeSaix, Department of Biology at University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, NC

Nan Ho, Professor of Biology at Las Positas Community College, Livermore, CA Jennifer Katcher, Faculty member at Pima Community College, AZ Kristi Curry Rogers, Biology and Geology at Macalaster College, MN Jim Smith, Professor of Biology at Michigan State University, MI Kirsten Swinstrom, Life Sciences Department at Santa Rosa Junior College, CA Lisa Urry, Professor of Biology at Mills College, CA

Daniel W. Ward, Professor of Biology at Waubonsee Community College, IL

Jason Wiles, Assistant Professor of Biology at Syracuse University, NY Calvin Young, Professor in the Biology Department at Fullerton College, CA

Louise Mead, BEACON Center for the Study of Evolution in Action

January 2011 in partnership with AIBS and NESCent

Support for this project has been provided by: The National Science Foundation under grant no. 0918741.

Evo 101

UE TAB: Well, it would be nice if .

Evo 101

Connect the teaching resources and the content

Evo 101

UE TAB: Can you include assessment? So, whats next? Self-assessment questions at the end of each section!

Resource Library

Resource Library

Resource Library

Provide clear guidelines for use

Teaching materials

Provide evolution resources that also target other content and skills that need to be taught

UE TAB: Can you provide an opening slide that identifies the learning goals?

UE TAB: Some of the slides are pretty complicated can you give us a sample script to use or modify?

Evolution connection: The Krebs Cycle Thats a lot of reactions. How many of these metabolic pathways do we need to memorize? Not many why? Because most organisms youre familiar with (aerobic ones) use the Krebs Cycle, electron transport chain, and oxidative phosphorylation. Theres just one set of reactions to worry about for them.

Heliobacter pylori photo by Yutaka Tsutsumi, M.D. Professor Department of Pathology Fujita Health University School of Medicine; Blue-green algae photo by Micrographica.com; Redwood and mountain lion photos by Gerald and Buff Corsi California Academy of Sciences; Oyster mushroom photo by Dr. Robert Thomas and Dorothy B. Orr California Academy of Sciences

Evolution connection: The Krebs Cycle But why?

Aerobic metabolism evolves!

Because these metabolic pathways evolved early in the history of life and were passed on to many different lineages.
Heliobacter pylori photo by Yutaka Tsutsumi, M.D. Professor Department of Pathology Fujita Health University School of Medicine; Blue-green algae photo by Micrographica.com; Redwood and mountain lion photos by Gerald and Buff Corsi California Academy of Sciences; Oyster mushroom photo by Dr. Robert Thomas and Dorothy B. Orr California Academy of Sciences

Evolution connection: The Krebs Cycle

These reactions work pretty much the same way in you, birds, bees, many bacteria, and tons of other critters!

Evolution connection: The Krebs Cycle

Over millions of years the Krebs has evolved some, but not too The evolution of the Krebs cyclecycle:

much. We can chart that evolution on a phylogeny. On the left is a diagram that represents the different reactions in the Krebs cycle. (compare to the diagram style for the Krebs cycle used in class previously) On the right is a phylogeny showing major branches of the tree of life and which parts of the Krebs cycle each lineage has. You can see that Eukaryotes lineages of Archaea . . . Bacteria (click) and bacteria . . . (click) Archaea have many components of the Krebs cycle that we studied in class. This complex set of reactions did not pop into being all at once, but evolved over the course of evolutionary time, with different components arising at different points. You can also see that the Eukaryotes . . . (click) have all the components of the Krebs cycle that we studied in class.

Evolution connection: The Krebs Cycle Where did our (eukaryotic) version of the Krebs cycle come from?
Us
Rickettsia bacterium

References:
Andersson, S. G. E, et al. 1998. The genome sequence of Rickettsia prowazekii and the origin of mitochondria. Nature. 396: 133-140. Huynen, M. A., Dandekar, T., and Bork, P. 1999. Variation and evolution of the citric acid cycle: a genomic perspective. Trends in Mircrobiology. 7: 281-291.

Evolution connection: proteins, carbohydrates, and nucleic acids

Learning goals:
Students will understand that 1) our evolutionary history has affected our genes and proteins, 2) the availability of particular carbohydrates in the environment has shaped the evolutionary history of different human populations, and 3) our evolutionary history matters in our everyday lives.

For the instructor:

This short slide set weaves together basic information about carbohydrates, proteins, and nucleic acids into one evolutionary story that relates to students everyday lives. To integrate it best, use these slides immediately after youve discussed the structure of these biological molecules. You may wish to prime students for this story by using lactose and lactase as examples when discussing carbohydrates and proteins. Additional details about the translation of nucleic acids into proteins could be incorporated into the last slide of this series, to the degree that you cover this material in your discussion of the structure of nucleic acids. You may also wish to return to this story as an example when you cover Mendelian genetics. The European version of the lactase persistence gene is inherited as a dominant Mendelian trait. Each of the following slides comes with a sample script for the instructor. To review this script, download the PowerPoint file and view the Notes associated with each slide. Evolution Connection slideshows are provided by Understanding Evolution (understandingevolution.org) and are copyright 2011 by The University of California Museum of Paleontology, Berkeley, and the Regents of the University of California. Feel free to use and modify this presentation for educational purposes.

Evolution connection: proteins, carbohydrates, and nucleic acids

Digesting lactose with an enzyme

Lactose

Galactose

Glucose

Evolution connection: proteins, carbohydrates, and nucleic acids

Lactase to the rescue!

Lactose

Galactose

Glucose

Lactase image is from BioMolecular Explorer 3D and is used under the conditions of a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

Evolution connection: proteins, carbohydrates, and nucleic acids

Gene for lactase

Evolution connection: proteins, carbohydrates, and nucleic acids

10,000 years ago: Lactose tolerance 100% lactose intolerantand increases arises
in frequency.

Lactose tolerance arises several times and increases in frequency.

Photo of highland cattle is by the Scottish government and is used under the conditions of a Creative Commons license. Photo of Masai with cattle is by Oxfam International and is used under the conditions of a Creative Commons license.

Evolution connection: proteins, carbohydrates, and nucleic acids

1. Ancestral lactose control gene on chromosome 2

lactose intolerance 2. C nucleotide replaced by a T nucleotide

lactose tolerance

3. One of three single nucleotide changes

lactose tolerance

Milkshake photo by Svadilfari and used under a Creative Commons license.

Reference:
Tishkoff, S. A., Reed, F. A., Ranciaro, A., Voight, B. F., Babbitt, C. C., Silverman, J. S. . . . Deloukas, P. (2006). Convergent adaptation of human lactase persistence in Africa and Europe. Nature Genetics. 39: 31-10.

Evolution Connection slideshows are provided by Understanding Evolution (understandingevolution.org) and are copyright 2011 by The University of California Museum of Paleontology, Berkeley, and the Regents of the University of California. Feel free to use and modify this presentation for educational purposes.

Additional Evo Connections

Structure and function of macromolecules
Organelle structure and function (2 different sets) Aerobic respiration

Photosynthesis
Alternative mechanisms for carbon fixation (C3, CAM, C4)

DNA replication
Transcription and translation and more to come especially with your help!

UNDERSTANDING EVOLUTION

WHATS NEXT?
Active-learning slide sets Journal Toolkit

Evo Gallery
Continued monthly updates and more Evo Connections

UNDERSTANDING EVOLUTION

Take home messages:

Make it easy! Provide appropriate packaging clear guidelines for use Create modifiable formats Provide evolution resources that also target other content and skills that need to be taught

Provide assessment and diagnostics

Engage the students actively and provide resources that are relevant to them