Lecture 17 - 27 Key Topics Flashcards
What is introgression
Transfer of genetic material between species through hybridisation and repeated back crossing
What is the biological species concept?
defines a species as a group of organisms that can interbreed and produce fertile offspring in nature.
what are pre-zygotic and post-zygotic barriers?
Pre-zygotic - barriers that prevent the egg from being fertilised
Post-zygotic - barriers that reduce viability or reproductive capacity of the offspring
What are operons?
several genes, next to each other in prokaryotic DNA, that are transcribed as a single piece of mRNA.
What is antagonist pleiotropy?
single gene affects more than one trait related to fitness.
What are introns?
Non-coding sequences of DNA, found in eukaryotes only
What is a lac operon
Transcriptional unit in bacteria that contains genes needed for lactose metabolism.
what is the “pull of the present”?
An upward trend in recent diversification due to the speciation event appearing closer to the present
What is co-speciation?
co-evolution of host and symbiont lineage
Examples of pre-zygotic and post-zygotic barriers.
Pre-zygotic:
Temporal isolation - different reproductive cycles or different period of activity
Behavioural isolation - different courtship patterns
Geographical isolation - occupy different habitats or niches within the same region
Post-zygotic:
Hybrid inviability - not viable
Hybrid infertility - not fertile
Hybrid breakdown - breaks down
What is phylogenetically independent contrast?
It is a method to compare traits on sister clades where one clade has the trait and the other does not
What is alloploidy speciation?
What is homoploid hybrid speciation?
From of speciation where hybridisation between two species results in a new species with a duplicated genome.
formation of new species through hybridisation without genome duplication.
What role does selection play in hybrid species?
Selection removed incompatible allele combinations (BDMIs), leaving only viable genetic mixes in hybrids.
What is the morphological species concept?
Organisms that appear morphologically identical. Can be misleading due to mimics and cryptic species.
Why do mitochondrial sequences form a single tree?
Because no recombination occurs in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA)
what is monophyly in gene trees?
describes a group of organisms that share a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Evolving over time due to genetic drift.
What are BDMIs?
Genetic incompatibilities that occur post zygotically, reducing hybrid fitness and contributing to reproductive isolation.
What is adaptive introgression?
Transfer of beneficial allele through hybridisation between species.
What is the mutation accumulation theory?
Harmful mutations accumulate because selection weakens later in life
convergent evolution
when species that are not closely related evolve similar features or behaviours independently.
antagonistic pleiotropy theory of aging
suggests that genes beneficial early in life may have detrimental effects later on
disposable soma theory of aging
suggests trade-off between reproduction and maintenance due to a limited energy budget
what are the key trade-offs in life strategies?
growth vs reproduction
early-life reproduction vs survival and future reproduction
offspring number vs offspring size and survival
what drives early vs late maturation?
high juvenile deaths favours delayed reproduction.
high adult mortality rates favour early reproduction.
why are some mutations not parsimoniously informative?
they occur in only one taxon and do not provide information about shared ancestry
3 requirements of natural selection
Variation in traits.
Some of that variation must be heritable
There must be competition (different fitness levels)