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Explore the main sources of genetic variation in populations and how evolution is defined in genetic terms. Learn about the impact of natural selection and genetic drift on single-gene and polygenic traits. Discover the conditions needed to maintain genetic equilibrium.
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KEY CONCEPT QUESTIONS • What are the main sources of inheritable variation in a population? • How is evolution defined in genetic terms? • What determines the number of phenotypes for a given trait?
1859 Darwin published his theory of evolution • 1866 Mendel worked with peas to explain inheritance • These two ideas did not come together until the 1930’s • Today, genetics, molecular biology, and evolutionary theory work together to explain how inheritable variation appears and how natural selection operates on that variation
What is a species? • Biological species concept • defined by Ernst Mayr • population whose members can interbreed & produce viable, fertile offspring • reproductively compatible
POPULATION • a collection of individuals of the same species in a defined area • GENEPOOL • the combined genetic information of all the members of a particular population • common group of genes • contains two or more alleles—or forms of a certain gene—for each inheritable trait
Changes in populations • Evolution of populations is really measuring changes in allele frequency • all the genes & alleles in a population = gene pool • Factors that alter allele frequencies in a population • natural selection • genetic drift • founder effect • bottleneck effect • gene flow
Populations evolve • Natural selection acts on individuals • differential survival • “survival of the fittest” • differential reproductive success • who bears more offspring • Populations evolve • genetic makeup of population changes over time • favorable traits (greater fitness) become more common Bent Grass on toxic mine site
RELATIVEFREQUENCY • the number of times that allele occurs in a gene pool compared with the number of times other alleles occur • expressed in percents
Relative Frequencies of Alleles Sample Population Frequency of Alleles allele for brown fur allele for black fur 48% heterozygous black 16% homozygous black 36% homozygous brown
What are the main sources of genetic variation in a population? • The two main sources of genetic variation are mutations and the genetic shuffling that results from sexual reproduction.
Mutation & Variation • Mutation creates variation • new mutations are constantly appearing • Mutation changes DNA sequence • changes amino acid sequence? • changes protein? • change structure? • change function? • changes in protein may change phenotype & therefore change fitness
Sex & Variation • Sex spreads variation • one ancestor can have many descendants • sex causes recombination • offspring have new combinations of traits = new phenotypes • Sexual reproduction recombines alleles into new arrangements in every offspring
Gene Shuffling • independent assortment during meiosis • crossing-over during meiosis • When alleles are recombined during sexual reproduction, they can produce dramatically different phenotypes. Thus, sexual reproduction is a major source of variation within many populations.
Variation impacts natural selection • Natural selection requires a source of variation within the population • there have to be differences • some individuals must be more fit than others
SINGLE-GENETRAIT • trait controlled by a single gene that has two alleles • can have two phenotypes only • widow’s peak hairline
Distribution of Phenotypes for Single-Gene Trait in a Population 100 80 60 40 20 0 Frequency of Phenotype (%) Widow’s peak No widow’s peak Phenotype
POLYGENICTRAITS • Traits controlled by two or more genes • each gene has two or more alleles • one polygenic trait can have many possible genotypes and even more possible phenotypes • height in humans
Generic Bell Curve for Polygenic Trait in a populationMost people fall in the middle of the bell curve Frequency of Phenotype Phenotype (height)
KEY CONCEPT QUESTIONS • What are the main sources of inheritable variation in a population? • Mutations and sexual reproduction • How is evolution defined in genetic terms? • genetic makeup of population changes over time • favorable traits (greater fitness) become more common • What determines the number of phenotypes for a given trait? • The number of genes that control the trait
KEY CONCEPT QUESTIONS • How does natural selection affect single-gene and polygenic traits? • What is genetic drift? • What 5 conditions are needed to maintain genetic equilibrium?
Naturalselection affects which individuals having different phenotypes survive and reproduce and which do not • In this way, natural selection determines which alleles are passed from one generation to the next. • Any factor that causes alleles to be added to or removed from a population will change the relative frequencies of alleles.
Whenever an individual dies without reproducing, its genes are removed from the population. • But if an individual produces many offspring, the proportion of that individual’s genes in the gene pool will increase. • In genetic terms, evolution is any change in the relative frequencies of alleles in a population’s gene pool. • Thus, evolution acts on populations, not on individuals.
Take a look: • Brown is the normal color
Besides a mutation for red color, what other mutation occurred in the lizard population? • A mutation for black color • How does color affect the fitness of the lizards? • Both red and brown lizards are less fit than black lizards
What do you predict the lizard population will look like by generation 50? Explain. • The lizard population will have more black lizards, fewer brown lizards, and no red lizards by generation 50. The environment determines the favorable color.
As you learned earlier: • the action of multiple alleles on traits such as height produces a range of phenotypes that often fit a bell curve • The fitness of individuals close to one another on the curve will not be very different. • But fitness can vary a great deal from one end of such a curve to the other. • And where fitness varies, natural selection can act.
Witness to Evolution • Peppered Moth • dark vs. light variants Peppered moth
Peppered moth Year% dark% light 1848595 1895982 19951981
Peppered moth • Why did the population change? • early 1800s = pre-industrial England • low pollution • lichen growing on trees = light colored bark • late 1800s = industrial England • factories = soot coated trees • killed lichen = dark colored bark • mid 1900s = pollution controls • clean air laws • return of lichen = light colored bark • industrial melanism
Natural selection can affect the distributions of phenotypes in any of three ways: directional selection, stabilizing selection, or disruptive selection.
DIRECTIONAL SELECTION • When individuals at one end of the curve have higher fitness than individuals in the middle or at the other end
Ex) The supply of small seeds runs low in a particular environment. Take a look at the graph below and explain what is happening. • - the birds with larger beaks are more likely to survive and reproduce because their beaks are adapted to the available food. There is a shift in the beak size of a population.
STABILIZING SELECTION • When individuals near the center of the curve have higher fitness than individuals at either end of the curve • EX) Figure shows that human babies born at an average mass are more likely to survive than babies born either much smaller or much larger than average
DISRUPTIVE SELECTION • when individuals at the upper and lower ends of the curve have higher fitness than individuals near the middle • EX) average-sized seeds become less common, and larger and smaller seeds become more common. As a result, the bird population splits into two subgroups specializing in eating different-sized seeds.
Effects of Selection • Driving changes in a population
GENETIC DRIFT • random change in allele frequencies that occurs in small populations • In small populations, individuals that carry a particular allele may leave more descendants than other individuals do, just by chance. Over time, a series of chance occurrences of this type can cause an allele to become common in a populationa
Genetic drift • Effect of chanceevents • founder effect • small group splinters off & starts a new colony • bottleneck • some factor (disaster) reduces population to small number & then population recovers & expands again
Bottleneck effect • When large population is drastically reduced by a disaster • famine, natural disaster, loss of habitat… • loss of variation by chance • alleles lost from gene pool • narrows the gene pool
Cheetahs • All cheetahs share a small number of alleles • less than 1% diversity • as if all cheetahs are identical twins • 2 bottlenecks • 10,000 years ago • Ice Age • last 100 years • poaching & loss of habitat
Conservation issues • Bottlenecking is an important concept in conservation biology of endangered species • loss of alleles from gene pool • reduces variation • reduces ability to adapt • at risk populations
Genetic Drift Sample of Original Population Descendants Founding Population A Founding Population B
Genetic Drift Sample of Original Population Descendants Founding Population A Founding Population B
Genetic Drift Sample of Original Population Descendants Founding Population A Founding Population B
FOUNDER EFFECT • situation in which allele frequencies change as a result of the migration of a small subgroup of a population • Darwin’s Finches • Fruit flies on Hawaii
Founder effect • When a new population is started by only a few individuals • some rare alleles may be at high frequency; others may be missing • skew the gene pool of new population • human populations that started from small group of colonists • example: white people colonizing New World