GED Flashcards
Sympatric speciation that involves a hybrid between two related species is known as…?
allopolyploidy
Give examples of postzygotic reproductive barriers?
Hybrid infertility
Reduced hybrid viability
Hybrid breakdown (reproductive failure from F2)
What are hybrid zones?
Regions where two recently derived (or two incipient) species mate and give rise to hybrid offspring.
Alters gene flow -> reinforcement (loss of fitness), fusion or stability (fitness loss negligible)
Give examples of prezygotic reproductive barriers
Pre mating:
- habitat isolation
- temporal isolation
- behavioural isolation
Post mating:
- mechanical isolation
- gametic isolation
Define a species
Population of reproducing organisms that are isolated from other populations + cannot interbreed to produce fertile offspring
Genetic drift/bottleneck
random effects can cause major changes in small populations significantly altering the genetic variability
Fitness
Relative probability of survival + reproduction of a given genotype
- difficult to calculate precisely + both will vary depending on env conditions
Whydo some characters reduce fitness (maladaptive)?
Sexual selection - female choice, traits exaggerated until equilibrium when natural + sexual selection balanced
e.g. Peacock
Altruism
Behaviour of an animal that benefits another at its own expense
Bill Hamilton + his rule
Inclusive fitness is direct + indirect fitness (fitness of related offspring) -> ‘kin selection’
you get altruism as long as rb > c
Haplodiploidy in hymonoptera
Females diploid, males haploid so pass on all genetic info
-> more closely related to sisters than offspring
so genes more likely to be passed on if sisters reared than offspring
but many hymenoptera not eusocial so relatedness only precondition of evolution, not determining factor
What are transpsosons?
Sequences of DNA that can move in genome
- produce transposase which enbales them to ‘jump’
*retrotransposons produce RNA which is reverse transcribed + inserted into genome
Horizontal gene transfer
Movement of genetic info across normal mating barriers
- widespread amongst prokaryotes, not in multicellular organisms
- minor source of variation + can lead to adaptations
What is eDNA?
DNA extracted without an organism from soil, water or air
- non-invasive
- requires careful amplification + bioinformatic identification
- powerful in aquatic systems
How is genetic variation preserved?
Neutral theory - many alleles selectively neutral + their frequencies will fluctuate over time due to genetic drift
Balancing selection - heterozygote advantage + frequency dependent selection
Microevolution
changes in gene pool of a population of organisms over time
What is a gene pool?
All alleles of all genes of all individuals in a population – represents all genetic variation in a pop.
Macroevolution
Major evolutionary events above species level + speciation
Descriptive embryology
observations on morphology + cell development
-> can catalogue gene expression pattern during development
Fate maps can be used to assess fate of cell/groups of cells based on lineage labelling, does not disturb development
Experimental embryology
Determines how cells know what they should become using:
- asymmetric inheritance of cytoplasmic determinants
- communication between cells (induction)
Specification maps can assess what cell/group of cells will form if removed from embryonic environment
Asymmetric inheritance
Discovered using tunicates - mosaic development in some embryos
‘Red bit’ in cytoplasm forced into other parts of embryo, other tissues formed contained muscle cells (presence of cytoplasmic determinants)
e.g. mosaic development in insects
+ frog oocyte + egg has inherent asymmetry to protect nucleus + mRNA from radiation
Communication between cells
baby hair ligature experiments show embryo able to adjust development -> 2 embryos arise from one zygote
Organizer experiment
1924 Mangold + Spemann
Induction of muscle (somites) + neural tissue
- dorsal mesoderm determined by early gastrula stage
- ventral ectoderm + mesoderm competent to become neural + somitic tissue
Homeotic mutation
Transformation of one body part into another, normal structure may be in the wrong place
Caused by hox genes - evolutionary conserved transcription factors clustered in genome
Tandem + segmental gen duplication
Tandem - e.g. unequal crossover caused by chromosome mispairing, duplicated gene free to acquire new functions (subfunctionalisation) or is lost
Segmental - giant tandem duplication affecting whole chunk of chromosome
*gave rise to 2 hox clusters in drosophila
Whole genome duplication events
Allotetraploidy - hybridisation between two separate species
Autotetraploidy - duplication of genome through improper meiosis
*can have significant effect on phenotype
Paralogous genes
Duplicated genes within a single genome