Lecture 1 & 2

Question 1

Evolutionary medicine or Darwinian medicine

Answer 1

the application of modern evolutionary theory to understanding health and disease

Question 2

Goal of evolutionary medicine

Answer 2

understand why people get sick, not simply how they get sick

Question 3

Proximate questions

Answer 3

How does the mechanism work?
What is the ontogeny of the mechanism?

Question 4

Evolutionary questions (the “why”)

Answer 4

Does this mechanism provide a selective advantage?
What is the evolutionary history of this trait?

Question 5

What was evolutionary/Darwinian medicine corrupted by?

Answer 5

Eugenics (social Darwinism principles)

Question 6

Four lines of work in evolutionary medicine

Answer 6

1. infection and fast evolution (still being developed, ex. antibiotic resistance)
2. constructing phylogenies (established & new applications, ex. spread of influence & cancer dynamics)
3. evolutionary genetics (ex. disease genetics)
4. why natural selection left our bodies vulnerable

Question 7

Evolutionary medicine and medical school relationship

Answer 7

Medical professionals know very little about evolution

Question 8

Natural selection: the motor of evolution

Answer 8

creates the appearance of design without having a design in mind or a mind at all
no agent actively “selects” anything

Question 9

Natural selection occurs whenever these 4 NECESSARY conditions are fulfilled

Answer 9

1. There is variation in reproductive success (or fitness)
2. There is variation in the trait of interest
3. There is a non-zero correlation between reproductive success and trait
4. Trait is heritable
   *each one can be evaluated independently from one another

Question 10

How variation in reproductive success is measured

Answer 10

Lifetime reproductive success (LRS)/ children ever born (CEB)/ fitness = # of offspring produced (there must be variation in completed family size in humans)
In bacteria, it is measured as the variation in time between cell divisions and the number of cells that survive

Question 11

Reproductive success is a composite of?

Answer 11

survival and production: the probability of surviving to reproduce X the number of offspring produced in that reproductive event

Question 12

Survival is only important for

Answer 12

reproduction
*to reproduce, one must survive

Question 13

medically we are focused on ____ but evolution is focused on ___

Answer 13

survival and reproduction

Question 14

Selection acts ___ via reproductive success and only ___ via survival, i.e. only to the extent that survival contributes to reproductive success

Answer 14

directly and indirectly

Question 15

variation in fitness is

Answer 15

universal
highly variable

Question 16

Any trait that correlates with reproductive success in these populations will experience selection if a trait is ___ then selection will act on it

Answer 16

heritable

Question 17

Whether a trait responds to selection in succeeding generations depends on

Answer 17

whether it is heritable

Question 18

Heritability

Answer 18

can this trait be passed on genetically through generations
measures variation in population

Question 19

variation in the trait of interest allows us to

Answer 19

respond/ adapt to selection
*sickle cell example

Question 20

if the trait does not vary then there can be ___ for improved reproductive performance among trait variants

Answer 20

no competition

Question 21

does natural selection operate on things that do not vary?

Answer 21

no
Variation among humans is universal, but not all of it has a genetic basis

Question 22

Can have selection without

Answer 22

evolution
*think pink hair example

Question 23

Dominance

Answer 23

interactions between alleles at a locus

Question 24

Epistasis

Answer 24

interactions between loci