Principles of evolution, genetics and behavioural development Flashcards
Why is studying evolution and genetics important
Have to understand how we have been shaped by evolution in order to understand how we behave now
who wrote the origin of species
Darwin
what two problems did the origin of species solve
the problem of history
the problem of design
what is the problem of history
Animals are structured in ways that look like variations on a theme
Darwin realised that for animals to be related they share a common ancestor
what is the problem of design
○ Organisms everywhere seem to be well adapted for their surroundings e.g. fennec vs artic fox
-presumed this must be designed deliberately
Explained by Darwin - useful features retained and useless ones disappear
what assumptions did Darwin make
Variation in a population
Heredity – variation can be passed on to offspring
Competition - not all individuals reproduce to the same extent
What does natural selection do
Leads to successive changes over generations
what are homologies
similarities between organisms due to common ancestry
what are analogies
similarities due to parallel selective pressures
what is the modern synthesis
Fisher and Wright combined natural selection (Darwin) with genetics (Mendel) to create our understanding of evolutionary theory (1930s)
explain evidence for evolution in Finch’s
- Drought led to changes in seeds in habitat to large and hard
- Finches with larger beaks more likely to survive and reproduce
Offspring receive genes for larger beak and frequency increased dramatically over 2 years
what disproves the “gaps in the record”
- Fossilisation is hit or miss and depends on conditions - fossils are a bonus
Evidence of full lineage of whale that supports evolution
evidence against “too complex to have arisen by chance”
- Mutation is a chance process
- Natural selection is not
Non-random and benefits individuals
what is a phenotype
physical attributions
Genotype and its interaction with the environment
where do we see variation
in continuous measures e.g. height
what does DNA stand for
Deoxyribonucleic acid
explain the structure of DNA
two strands, with principle of base pairing. (A-T C-G)
Organised into pairs of chromosomes (diploid organism) -
23 pairs
what are genes
Sequence of DNA bases - code for a specific protein
what is an allele
An allele is an alternate form of a gene - codes for a different form of a protein
what is transcription
- A copy of one strand created - forms mRNA
mRNA leaves nucleus and bind to ribosome
what is translation
- Ribosome translate the code from RNA into amino acids
- Chain of amino acids form proteins
U instead of T in mRNA
- Chain of amino acids form proteins
how many amino acids are there
20
how many bases code for an amino acid
3 - known as codon
what is redundant coding
more than one codon codes for same amino acid
