Bio Note Test 2

Evolutionary Theory
- Example, the Flu change often, each new vaccine adapts to the new changes

Evolution: A change in the genetic make-up of a population over time

- E.g. evolution of influenza in natural population

DARWIN WAS NOT THE FIRST TO DISCOVER EVOLUTION

Darwin’s Theory by Natural Selection (How species change can be explained through Natural
Selection)
- 1) Heritable variation
o Primary source: mutations and genetic recombination (sex, crossing over,
conjugation, antigenic shift, etc)
- 2) Selection: Competition for limited resources is prevalent. Individuals with more
favorable phenotypes are more likely to survive and reproduce = FITNESS
- 3) Descent with modification to the gene pool over time

Misconception
- Genetically modified food is NOT a recent invention (We been manipulating gene for
1000s years in pets, crops, and livestock

- Evolution has NOT Stopped (ex. HIV, flu, sickle-cell anemia, stickle-back fish)
o Natural Selection works on populations, not in individuals
- Recessive alleles do not mean they are weak
o Natural selection maintains favorable alleles whether dominant or recessive.
o Recessive alleles are maintained in populations
Variation: Most traits arise out of mutation

BOTTOM LINE
- Words like: need, try, want are not accurate when describing and explaining evolution
- Variation + differential reproduction + heredity = natural selection
Other Forces of Evolutionary Change
Evolutionary Success
- Fitness: measure of reproductive success- how many offspring are produced and survive
- More variation within a pop. Higher chance of adjusting to change

Selection leads to New Phenotypes

- Favors different traits lead to many different lineages that descend from the same
ancestor
o Artificial selection: Wild mustard has led to many different crop plants

Microevolution (A change in gene frequency in a population)

- Population is the group of organisms that share gene pool

Nonrandom Processes and Evolutionary Change (Biological evolution refers to the change in the
genetic makeup of a population)
- Natural Selection does not act along: Each of the following can alter allele frequencies
o Gene Flow
o Genetic Drift
o Nonrandom mating

Gene Flow (Few populations are completely isolated from others)

- Movement (migration) of individuals and gametes between populations can change
allele frequencies
- If gene flow between populations stops, those populations may diverge and become
different species

Genetic Drift
- Random shifts in allele frequencies, usually occurring in small populations
- Harmful alleles may increase and advantageous one may be lost
o (Founder Effect and Bottleneck effect results in genetic drift)

The Founder Effect

- Small population leaves and start a new population (May not be representative sample
of alleles as the original)
o Loss of genetic variation ->new pop. Establish by small amount of individual from
a larger population
Bottleneck Effect
- Hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, fires, droughts, such events are able to reduce the
variation in the gene pool of a population drastically

Necessity of Variation in the Gene Pool

(genetic bottleneck happened 12,000, Ice Age)
- Gene pool now has really low variation -> affect their ability to adapt to the
environment is limited
- Larger, more powerful organism have more success in their habitat
- Cheetahs are more prone to genetic diseases
o Low fertility: 79% of male sperm are abnormal

Nonrandom Mating
- Mating patterns may alter genotype frequencies because individual in a population
don’t choose mates at random thus altering allele frequencies
o Sexual selection occurs when individuals mate preferentially
Studying Evolution
Lines of Evidence: Fossil records, biogeography, geologic, comparative anatomy, DNA, and
protein

Earth’s History Recorded in Rocks

- Rock help us…
o Approximate age of the earth
o Changing of Environment
o Change in Life

Dating Fossil
- Provide evidence for order of species
- Dated by…
o Age of rock
o Radiometric dating
o Phylogenetic

Fossils: Represent long term morphological changes in living organisms (the result of genetic
changes and selective pressures in the environment)

Biogeography: Fossil found in location that shows environmental change, and in response the
organism changes as well
- Fossils of ancestors of whales found in the Himalaya
- Fossils of clams found in Grand Canyon and the Euro Alps

Transition Fossils: Can show intermediate forms of some modern-day animals

Comparative Anatomy
- Homologous Structures: Anatomical similarities in body parts indicate relatedness
between organism
Vestigial Organs: Structure which is reduced in size and no longer serving an important
function: indicating change in that species

Biochemical and Genetic Similarities

- Using DNA and proteins sequences provide for evolution and ancestry
- Greater number of similarities between two organisms’ DNA, the more recently the two
shared a common ancestor

Reconstruction the Evolution of Whales (includes whales, dolphins, and porpoises

- More closely related to mammals than fish (ears, eyes, lungs, limbs, and mammary
glands)

Evolution of Whales
- Pakicetus: oldest known ancestor of cetaceans
o Evidence:
o 1) Have distinct skull, unique to them
o 2) Pakicetus skull and teeth resemble whales
o 3) Ear bone of Pakicetus found only in whales
- Closest living relative of whales would be Ungulates (hooved mammals)
o Rhinos, Hogs, Zebras, and Buffalo
 - More specifically Artiodactyls (even-hooved mammals)
- Hippos are whales closest relative
o Evidence: genes, proteins, and enzymes

Phylogenetic Tree of Whale Evolution

Evidence Used to Reconstruct
- Anatomical: (morphological): ear, skull and ankle bones
- Molecular: genes, protein, and enzymes
- Vestigial organs: Legs
- Geochemical: Oxygen isotope content in skulls indicates a transition from fresh to salt
water.
- Paleoenvironmental: Changes in environment and other species in area of fossilized
remains
- Paleo biogeographical: Distribution on land animals would be more restricted than that
of aquatic
- Chronological: Environment shift after the Cretaceous Period allowed mammals the
opportunity to move into aquatic areas
Hardy – Weinberg and Modes of Selection
How do we measure if a population is evolving? Evolution is any change in relative frequency of
alleles in a population
- The Hardy – Weinberg formula (in absence of selection) the proportion of two alleles (p
and q) of a gene will remain constant in a population, regardless of whether they are
dominant or recessive
- Factors that break equilibrium and cause an allele to be more plentiful
1) Selective advantage or disadvantage
2) Genetic drift
3) Non-random mating
4) Influx of new alleles (immigration/emigration)
Hardy – Weinberg Principle: 5 condition
1) Large population
2) No immigration or emigration (no gene flow)
3) No mutations
4) Mating is random: all members can breed and do breed
5) No Natural Selection: all phenotypes have an equal probability of survival and equal
rates of reproduction
o NOT HOLD TRUE ^ EVOLUTION WILL OCCUR

- Hardy – Weinberg states

o P^2 = frequency of the AA genotype
o 2pq = frequency of the Aa genotype
o q^2 = frequency of the aa genotype
Non-Mendelian Traits
 - Traits can be influenced by alleles at more than one locus (polygenic) (Will resemble a
Bell curve)
Mode of Selection
- Stabilizing selection
o Reduction variation in pop. Doesn’t change mean
o Purifying selection, deleterious mutations are selected
against
- Disruptive selection
o Individuals at two extremes are selected (speciation)

- Directional selection
o One extreme is favored and therefore contribute
more offspring (shift average value
o Evolution trends continue over generation but can
reverse if envir. Chang
o Positive selection
Unity & Diversity of Life

Organisms linked through Common Ancestry

- Over the last 3.5 Billion years living organisms on Earth have diversified and adapted to
almost every environment
- All living organisms share certain similarities (same genetic code replicated)
o Existence of these properties suggest that we have a universal ancestor and
present life came from them

Domains: Divided into three domains

1) Bacteria
2) Archaea
3) Eukaryotes

Elements Shared Across All Domains

(structural and Functional Evidence)
- DNA and RNA
o Genetic carriers of information via transcription, translation, and replication
o Major part of the genetic code shared with all modern living
- Metabolic Pathways (conversed across all domains)
o Enzymes involved in amino acid, carbohydrate, and lipid metabolism (glycolysis)
o Energy metabolism, all cells use ATP
- Mitosis (replication)

Elements Shared in all Eukaryotes

- Structural Evidence
o Elements conserved in all eukaryotes
 Cytoskeleton
 Linear chromosomes
  Nucleus
 Membrane-bound organelles
 Endomembrane systems
Phylogenetics: The study of evolutionary history between
organisms
- Phylogeny reconstructed through shared traits
- Key Elements
o Morphological (comparative anatomy)
o Molecular (DNA, mDNA, RNA, amino acids,
proteins)

Reading a Phylogenetic Tree

- An outgroup is related to the study groups (in group), but not as closely related as the
study groups are to each other (using an outgroup as reference point allow to
distinguish more primitive groups from more recent groups)
- Node (illustrated by an intersection point in the tree), symbolizing a common ancestor
to all the groups above the node
The distance of the branch from outgroup represent the relative time of origin

Speciation (Basic evolutionary trends can produce major evolutionary changes)

- Species are groups that mate with one another and produce fertile offspring
 - Speciation is the divergence of biological lineages and emergence of reproductive
isolation
- (Mirco+ Mirco+ Mirco+ Mirco+ Mirco= Macro)

Extinctions:
- Species extinction rates are rapid at times of ecological stress
- Over Earth’s history there have been at least 5 extinction (75% if the pop. Went out)
o Ecological niches become available after mass extinction, providing opportunity
to new species -> lead to new species forming

Reproductive Isolation is Key

- Long term isolation of sexually reproducing lineages from one another could lead to
new lineages forming.
- As pairs of species diverge, genetically they become increasingly reproductively
incompatible: may take anywhere from a few generations to millions of years
 o Genetic drift/natural selection
o Gene duplication
o Chromosomal deletion, fusions
o New alleles forming which are incompatible with alleles in original population

Isolation Mechanisms
- Allopatric Speciation results when a population is divided by physical barriers
(mountain ranges, geological barrier)
- Generally, occurs in large populations
- May be formed when a mountain range, body or water, formation of land in aquatic
environment divide a range of species
o Usually due to continental drift rise and fall of sea levels, and climate change
- May also results when some members of a population cross and existing barrier and
establish a new isolated population

Speciation Without Barrier

- Occasionally new species may arise without barriers forming in a process known as
sympatric speciation
1) Gene Flow is essentially reduced between two populations
a. Usually the result of disruptive selection
b. Can also be result of exploiting a new niche
 c. RARE
2) More common, polyploidy (duplicate sets of chromosomes)
a. Estimated that 70% of all plants are the result of this

When Diverging Species Come Back Together

- Hybrid species between the divergent species may develop when species come back in
contact
- These hybrid species may be less fit…natural selection is reinforcing the reproductive
isolation
- Mechanisms that prevent hybridization from occurring are called prezygotic
- Mechanism that reduce fitness of offspring are called postzygotic

Prezygotic Mechanism
- Mechanical Isolation: Size and shape of reproductive organs may prevent union of
gamete cells
- Behavioral Isolation: Courtship rituals
- Temporal Isolation: Mating season differs
- Habitat Isolation: Closely related species evolve preferences for living and mating in
different habitats
- Gametic Isolation: Sperm may not attach to eggs because eggs don’t release appropriate
attractive chemicals

Postzygotic Mechanisms
- Hybrid unviability: hybrid dies
- Hybrid sterility: offspring are infertile
- Hybrid break down: offspring in later generations die or are infertile

Speciation Rates Vary

- Evolution does not always occur at the same rate
o Gradualism: the gradual change in species over time
o Punctuated equilibrium: some species undergo changes in very short bursts of
time
 Usually due to small populations becoming isolated (geographic
immigration/emigration, mass extinction)
Adaptive Radiation: single species of small group may evolve into diverse forms to usually fill a
niche that is vacant
- Examples
o Rift lakes of Africa, first contained few types of cichlid fish
o Now have hundreds of types

Convergent Evolution: Same biological adaptation developing in unrelated species to deal with
similar environment
- Sometime different species will develop similar character traits
- Living under the similar conditions often develop similar adaptation even if starting
material is different

Co-evolution: Two or more species mutually influenced by each other

- Includes
o Symbiotic relationships: parasitic/mutualism
o Predator prey relationships
 Parasites: one will benefit off the relationship at the expense of another
(mistletoe and wasp)
 Mutualism: Both benefit off one another (hummingbirds and corals)
 Both predator and prey are part of the environment and must evolve to
adapt to survive (one in order to eat and the other to survive)
Earth’s History

The History of Life on Earth

- 4.5 billion years old
- Life existed 3.8 billion
- Humans occupied Earth for ,003% of the history life
The Geologic Time Scale: The History of life on Earth is arranged on a timeline marked with key

Earth’s Physical Environment Has Changed

- Formation of land masses and Movement of Land masses
o Colliding land masses may cause mountain ranges
o Rifts may form in land masses moving away from one another
o Position of continents affects ocean currents, therefore global climate and sea
levels
Earth’s Climate Has Change
- Used to be often warmer and sometime a lot of colder
- Glacial activity influences changes in temperature

Rapid Release of CO2 caused warming the Earth

Volcanic Activity
- The eruption of volcanoes can affect global temperatures
- Permian Extinction: 96% species lost, induced a 5-year heat wave and ocean reached up
to 104

Oldest Life: 3.8 BYA

- Earliest evidence consists of rock sample containing carbon isotopes
o Take Carbon 12 (photosynthesis)
- Most of Earth’s history was microbial life
- Worked without oxygen
Changes in O2 Level
- 2.5 BYA, cyanobacteria used water for photosynthesis O2 was
release
- Rich O2 atmosphere allowed…:
o Formation of ozone
o Animals move from water to land
o Larger organisms

Early Organic Molecules and Meteorites

- Meteorites contain water, carbon and amino acids
o Wasn’t believed at the time
Primordial Soup Model
- Chemical make-up of atmosphere: Hydrogen, water vapor, and
ammonia
- CHONS+P: element of life
- Since life began in oceans, thought mixture of gases in the atmosphere and energy from
lightning form amino acid
o Miller- Urey simulated this, creates organic molecules (amino acids)

RNA World
- RNA can catalyze reaction: ribozymes
- RNA is a key molecule used for earliest life forms, genetic and catalytic activity
- Life evolved to use DNA and protein
o RNA had a unstable nature and
worse catalytic abilities