Evolution of Population Flashcards
What are the main mechanisms of evolutionary change?
Natural selection
Genetic drift
Gene flow
what is the modern synthesis
theory that reconciled Darwinian selection theory with Mendelian genetics to explain the origin of biological diversity
why doesn’t natural selection produce “perfect” organisms
- Selection can act ONLY on existing variations
- evolution is limited by historical constraints
- Adaptations often comprise
what is blended inheritance
what is the inheritance of acquired characters
why have notions of inheritance of acquired characters AND blended inheritance fallen into disfavor
what is Mendel’s contribution to genetics?
discovered the fundamental laws of inheritance
set the stage for understanding the genetic differences base of evolution
where does genetic variation come from
Mutations, Gene duplication and sexual reproduction
explain how heterozygote advantage maintains detrimental alleles (sickle cell anemia)
dominant allele protects them from a genetic disease, while their recessive allele protects them from an infectious disease
three ways sexual reproduction contributes to genetic variation
- crossing over
- an independent assortment of chromosomes
- fertilization
how would a point mutation FAIL to change the effect of a natural selection on an organism
Point mutations in noncoding regions commonly result in neutral variation (no advantage or disadvantage to organism)
how is the Hardy-Weinberg equation used to determine if a population is evolving
determines what the genetic makeup of a population would be if it’s NOT evolving at that locus and then compares it to the current population
what are the parts of the HW equation
P, PQ and Q
explain this statement :
“Mendelian processes alone DO NOT alter allele frequencies”
if these were the only processes at work then there would be no change to the allele frequency.
a common misconception about evolution
individual organisms evolve
even though natural selection acts on individuals the impact is ONLY seen
at the population level
what reduces genetic variation
population bottleneck
less genetic variation means there is
less opportunity for natural selection to adapt to environmental pressures
what is evolution on its smallest scale
microevolution
microevolution
changes in allele frequencies in a population over generations
TRue or false
natural selection is the ONLY cause of microevolution
FALSE
what is the mechanism to CONSISTENTLY improve the match of organisms and environment
natural selection
genetic drift
chance events that alter allele frequencies
gene flow
the transfer of alleles between populations
what is a prerequisite for mechanisms that cause allele frequency changes/evolution
genetic variation
what makes evolution possible
genetic variation
what didn’t Darwin know about organisms
HOW they pass heritable traits to their offspring
who set the stage for understanding the genetic differences of evolution
Mendel
True or False
Individuals in the same species will vary in phenotypic traits
TRUE
True or False
phenotypic variations DON’T reflect genetic variation
FALSE
how does phenotypic variation reflect genetic variation
differences among individuals in the composition of their genes or DNA sequences
what is suggested by heritable phenotypic differences occurring on an “either-or” basis
typically determined by a SINGLE gene locus with different alleles producing different phenotypes
what is suggested by phenotypic differences that vary along a continuum
result from influence of two or more gees on a single phenotypic character
Genetic variation at the whole-gene level can be quantified as the
the average percentage of loci that are heterozygous
Genetic variation at the molecular level of DNA has
very little variation resulting in phenotypic variation
why does genetic variation at the molecular level NOT result in phenotypic variation
Most of the variations occur in introns
what is phenotype a product of
inherited genotype and many environmental influences
what part of phenotypic variation can have evolutionary consequences
only genetically determined part
true or false
evolution can occur without genetic variation
FALSE
genetic variation evolution depends on
processes that produce new alleles and genes
true or false
sexual reproduction can also result in genetic variation
true
why can sexual reproduction result in genetic variation
genes are arranged in new ways
new alleles can arise from
mutations
mutations
change in the nucleotide sequence of an organism’s DNA
most NEW mutations that alter a phenotype are
at least slightly harmful
how can diploid organisms can hide harmful alleles
harmful alleles that are recessive can be hidden from selection by heterozygote protection
heterozygote protection
more favourable dominant allele can mask the recessive harmful one
True or false
a mutation can, on occasion, make its bearer better suited to the environment
TRUE
what is the ONLY way mutations can be passed to offspring in multicellular organisms
mutations in cell lines that produce gametes
what chromosomal changes are usually harmful
changes that delete, disrupt or rearrange
how can changes not affect phenotype
large scale changes that leave genes intact
key source of varaition
duplication of genes due to error in meiosis
example of how an error in meiosis cause variation
unequal crossing over
duplication of large chromosomal segments would be
harmful
duplications of smaller pieces of DNA may
not be harmful
what happens when mutations accumulate with gene duplications over generations with NO effects
expanded genome with new genes
mutations tend to be _____ in plants and animals
low
prokaryotes often have _____ number of mutations than plants and animals
lower
what is the link between more generations of time and mutations (prokaryotes)
mutations quickly generate genetic variation in populations
what type of genome has a higher mutation rate
RNA genome compared to the DNA genome
Most of the genetic variation in the population comes from
the unique combination of alleles each individual receives from parents
sexual reproduction shuffles ______ and deals them _______ to produce individual genotypes
existing alleles AND randomly