Evolutionary genetics of natural populations

12 important questions on Evolutionary genetics of natural populations

What is the result of the balance between mutation and selection?

This results in a "load" of rare deleterious alleles

What are important factors in evolutionary changes?

  • Mutation: The source of all genetic diversity, but it a weak evolutionary force (mutation rate is very low)

  • Migration: Reduces differeces among populations generated by mutation, selection and chance

  • Selection: Only force causing evolutionary changes that better adapt populations to their environment

  • Chance: Effects in small populations lead to loss of genetic diversity

  • Fragmentation: and reduced migration limiting gene flow generate random differentiation among subpopulations derived from the same original source population

What are the patterns of genetics diversity in populations the result of?

Of a variety of forces that act to eliminate or increase and disperse these novel mutant alleles and chromosome arrangements among individuals and populations
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What are silent substitutions?

Mutations that occur in non-coding regions of the genome and those that do not result in amino acid substitutions in proteins

Why is mitochondrial DNA a valuable tool in studying short-term evolutionary processes?

Mitochondrial DNA has a higher rate than nuclear loci

When is genetic diversity regenerated by mutation?

Only over periods of hundreds to millions of generations

What happens with the introduction of immigrants?

This reduces genetic differentiation among populations and may restore lost genetic diversity

What is the formule for the change in allele frequency due to migration?

Deltaq = m (qm - q0)
m = migration rate
qm = allele frequency in immigrants
q0 = frequency in the original population

What does the change in allele frequency from one generation to another depends on?

- The proportion of alleles contributed by immigrants
- The differences in frequency between the immigrants and the original population

How do adaptive evolutionary changes occur?

Through the impact of selection on genetic variation, increasing the frequency of beneficial alleles

What is the big concern of the 6th extinction?

Environmental changes due to humans
  • Species have to move or adapt
  • Humans have been responsible for translocations of species, extinction of food species, inadvertent or deliberate introduction of novel chemicals to the environment  

How does selection arise?

Different genotypes have different rates of survival and reproduction, resulting in changes in the frequency of alleles
- Operates at all stages of the life cycle

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