| Study programme competencies |
| Code | Study programme competences |
| A7 | Reconstruír as relacións filogenéticas entre unidades operacionales e pór a proba hipóteses evolutivas. |
| A12 | Manipular material xenético, realizar análises xenéticas e levar a cabo asesoramento xenético. |
| A18 | Levar a cabo estudos de produción e mellora animal e vexetal. |
| A21 | Deseñar modelos de procesos biolóxicos. |
| A24 | Xestionar, conservar e restaurar poboacións e ecosistemas. |
| A27 | Dirixir, redactar e executar proxectos en Bioloxía. |
| B1 | Aprender a aprender. |
| B2 | Resolver problemas de forma efectiva. |
| B3 | Aplicar un pensamento crítico, lóxico e creativo. |
| B4 | Traballar de forma autónoma con iniciativa. |
| B5 | Traballar en colaboración. |
| B6 | Organizar e planificar o traballo. |
| B7 | Comunicarse de maneira efectiva nunha contorna de traballo. |
| Learning aims | |||
| Learning outcomes | Study programme competences | ||
| Capacity to interpret and to analyze the biological problems, as well as the human nature itself, from an evolutionary perspective | A7 A12 A18 A21 |
B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 B7 |
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| Choice of the techniques and methods more adequate to tackle the study of a specific evolutionary problem | A7 A12 A18 A24 |
B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 B7 |
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| Use of the genetic information to manage, to preserve and to restore populations. | A7 A12 A18 A21 A24 A27 |
B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 B7 |
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| Contents |
| Topic | Sub-topic |
| 1.- GENETIC VARIATION | Different kinds of genetic variation and their quantification. The National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) databases. The 1000 genomes project of human variation. Genome browsers (Ensembl). Genotype and phenotype. |
| 2.- MACROEVOLUTION | Evolution above the species level. Timeline of life on earth. The three domains of life. Using phylogenies to reconstruct the deep past. Diversification of eukaryotes. The species concept in paleontology. Patterns of macroevolution. Mass extinctions. Differences among clades in species diversity. The evolution of complex biological structures through the fossil record. |
| 3.-THE BUILDING OF EVOLUTIONARY MODULES | Promiscuous proteins; molecular machines; modular evolution of proteins. Evolutionary tinkering. Biochemical construction kits. Adaptations, exaptations and spandrels. Evo-devo: recycling networks. Retrograde and intercalary evolution. Gene duplications. Recruitment. Horizontal transmission. Linkage groups. Randomization effect of recombination. Genetic coadaptation. Supergenes. |
| 4.- MOLECULAR PHYLOGENIES | Cladograms and phylograms. Coalescence theory. Monophyletic, paraphyletic and polyphyletic taxa. Gene trees and species trees. Methods of molecular phylogenetics. The human evolutionary tree |
| 5.- THE ORIGINS OF SPECIES | Concepts of species. Main questions related to speciation. Intrinsic reproductive barriers of isolation. Speciation and fitness landscapes: the shifting-balance theory. Modes of speciation. Adaptive radiations. Magic traits. Evolution of hybrid genetic incompatibilities. General rules of speciation and evolutionary diversification. Phyletic and cladistic evolution in the fossil record. |
| 6.- QUANTITATIVE GENETICS | Continuous, discontinuous and threshold characters. Breeding value and genotypic value of a genotype. Environmental value. Environmental sensitivity of a genotype. Components of phenotypic variance. Heritability. Estimation of the minimum number of loci underlying a quantitative trait (QTL). Mapping of QTLs. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS). |
| 7.- CONSEQUENCES OF REPRODUCTIVE SYSTEMS AND TYPES OF MATING ON THE ORGANIZATION OF GENETIC VARIATION | Maintenance of genetic variation in populations with sexual reproduction and random mating: Hardy-Weinberg law (H-W); deviations from H-W expectations. Effects of asexual reproduction and non-random mating on genotype frequencies: parthenogenesis; self-fertilization; inbreeding and relatedness coefficients; regular systems of inbreeding; phenotypic assortative mating. Genetic admixture. |
| 8.- RANDOM GENETIC CHANGES IN POPULATIONS OF SMALL SIZE | Sampling of gametes and random walk of gene frequencies. Wright-Fisher model. Dispersion of gene frequencies among subpopulations. Rate of fixation within subpopulations and genomes. Effective population size. Founder effects and population bottlenecks. Wahlund effect. |
| 9.- MUTATION AND MIGRATION | Classes of mutations: nucleotide substitutions; insertions and deletions; duplications; chromosome rearrangements. Mutation rates. Change in gene frequency due to mutation. The fate of a single mutant. Models of mutation in molecular population genetics. Migration and gene flow. Change in gene frequency due to migration; the island model. Mutation and migration in finite populations. |
| 10.- EFFECTS OF NATURAL SELECTION ON PHENOTYPES AND GENE FREQUENCIES | Natural selection. Biological fitness. Types of selection. Selection on quantitative traits. Measuring multivariate selection. Selection on correlated characters. Case study: the genetic basis of adaptation to high altitude in humans. Good genes or bad genes? Haploid and diploid basic models of selection. Polymorphisms maintained by constant selection coefficients. Fitness estimation. Fitness landscapes. |
| 11.- COMBINED ACTION OF SELECTION AND OTHER EVOLUTIONARY FORCES. VARYING SELECTION COEFFICIENTS | Mutation-selection balance. The role of recombination: Muller's ratchet and the degeneration of Y chromosomes. Equilibrium between selection and gene flow; gene clines. Too much heterosis: segregational load. Negative frequency-dependent selection. Spatial and temporal variation in fitness: coarse grained vs fine grained environments. Antagonistic pleiotropy. Fitness trade-offs. |
| 12.- ENGINES OF EVOLUTION | Red Queen dynamics. Interspecies antagonisms. Sexual conflicts. Sexual selection vs. natural selection. Parent-offspring conflicts. Intergenomic conflicts: cytoplasmic incompatibility. Intragenomic conflicts: selfish genetic elements. |
| 13.- THE NEUTRAL THEORY OF MOLECULAR EVOLUTION. MOLECULAR FOOTPRINTS OF NATURAL SELECTION |
The neutral theory of molecular evolution. Molecular clocks. Models of DNA evolution. Limits of nucleotide divergence. Estimates of the number of nucleotide substitutions. Substitution rates. Pseudogenes. Direct effects of selection on nucleotide polymorphism and divergence. The importance of recombination: selective sweep and background selection. Selection and demographic history can leave similar footprints on DNA variation. Statistical tests. |
| Planning | ||||
| Methodologies / tests | Competencies | Ordinary class hours | Student’s personal work hours | Total hours |
| Introductory activities | B1 B4 B5 B6 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Guest lecture / keynote speech | A7 A12 A18 A24 B1 B3 B4 B6 | 18 | 36 | 54 |
| Problem solving | B2 | 6 | 12 | 18 |
| ICT practicals | A7 A21 B2 B4 | 15 | 15 | 30 |
| Directed discussion | B1 B2 B3 B7 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Collaborative learning | A27 B1 B3 B5 B7 | 7 | 35 | 42 |
| Objective test | A7 A12 A18 A21 A24 B1 B2 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Personalized attention | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| (*)The information in the planning table is for guidance only and does not take into account the heterogeneity of the students. | ||||
| Methodologies |
| Methodologies | Description |
| Introductory activities | Profesor.- Presenta a guía docente da materia, aclara dúbidas, organiza os alumnos para as actividades. Alumno.- Toma notas, formula dúbidas e cuestións. |
| Guest lecture / keynote speech | Profesor.- Explica os fundamentos teóricos Alumno.- Observa, asimila e toma notas. Formula dúbidas e cuestións. Memoriza. Le os textos recomendados. |
| Problem solving | Profesor.- Formula problemas e orienta para a súa resolución. Alumno.- Traballa individualmente ou en grupo, busca información e resolve as cuestións formuladas |
| ICT practicals | Profesor. - Presenta os obxectivos, prepara o material e o equipo, expón os métodos, proporciona un guión, asiste aos alumnos. Alumno. - Experimenta, analiza e elabora unha memoria |
| Directed discussion | Discusión de textos asignados a principio do curso e resolución de exercicios relacionados. |
| Collaborative learning | (profesor) Asigna traballos. Instrúe sobre ferramentas. Orienta e resolve dúbidas. (alumno) Traballa cos seus compañeiros na realización das tarefas asignadas polo profesor. |
| Objective test | Profesor. - Formula preguntas e valora as respostas dos alumnos Alumno. - Consulta os seus materiais de apoio e responde ás preguntas |
| Personalized attention |
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| Assessment | |||
| Methodologies | Competencies | Description | Qualification |
| Directed discussion | B1 B2 B3 B7 | 1 hour exam (test + exercises) related to the topics dealt with in the seminars. | 15 |
| ICT practicals | A7 A21 B2 B4 | Practical exercises of bioinformatics. Compulsory: to avoid failing the subject, every student should obtain at least 15 points in this exam. |
25 |
| Objective test | A7 A12 A18 A21 A24 B1 B2 | Critical review of a scientific manuscript (value = 10), plus regularly spaced multiple-choice tests (cumulative value = 15), plus final theoretical exam consisting both of multiple-choice tests and populations genetics exercises (cumulative value = 35). Compulsory: to avoid failing the subject, every student should obtain at least 35 points in this part of the assessment. |
60 |
| Assessment comments | |||
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Official withdraw from the course is only possible if the student attends neither the final theoretical nor the practical exam. The final grade of the students who did not reach the minimum grade to pass the course in the practical or the objective test, but whose cumulative score happened to be higher than 50, will be a 4.9 (FAILED). In the second opportunity, the same evaluation methodology will be used as in the first one. In the event that a student, for duly justified reasons, cannot attend the official exams of the subject, he/she will be examined orally. If he/she is unable to take the continuous evaluation tests, or if he/she does not obtain the maximum possible points with these tests, he/she may take an additional block of exercises in the official exam, in order to recover the points lost. The fraudulent performance of the evaluation tests or activities will directly imply the grade of FAILED (0) in the subject at the corresponding opportunity. |
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| Sources of information |
| Basic |
Cutter, A. D. (2019). A primer of molecular population genetics. OUP Oxford
Hartl, D. L. (2020). A primer of population genetics and genomics. OUP Oxford
Zimmer, C. and Emlen, D. (2015). Evolution: Making sense of life. Roberts and Company Publishers
Herron, J. D., and Freeman, S. (2014). Evolutionary Analysis. . Pearson
Caballero, A. (2017). Genética Cuantitativa. Síntesis
Hedrick, P.W. (2011). Genetics of Populations.. Jones & Bartlett
Hahn, M. W. (2018). Molecular Population Genetics. OUP USA
DeSalle, R. (2013). Phylogenomics: A primer. Routledge
Lane, N (2018). Power, Sex, Suicide. OUP Oxford
Shubin, N. (2015). Tu pez interior. Capitán Swing |
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| Complementary |
Sampedro, J. (2007). Deconstruyendo a Darwin: Los Enigmas de la Evolución a la Luz de la Nueva Genética.. Síntesis
Fontdevila, A., y Moya, A. (2003). Evolución. Origen, adaptación y divergencia de las especies.. Síntesis
Barton, N. (2007). Evolution. Cold Spring Harbor Lab. Press.
Ridley, M. (2004). Evolution. Blackwell
Avise, J. C. (2006). Evolutionary Pathways in Nature. A Phylogenetic Approach. . Cambridge Univ. Press.
Fontdevila, A., y Moya, A. (1999). Introducción a la genética de poblaciones. Síntesis
Bromham, L. (2008). Reading the Story in DNA: A Beginners Guide to Molecular Evolution. . Oxford Univ. Press.
Coyne, J. A. (2009). Why Evolution is True. Viking |
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| Recommendations | |||
| Subjects that it is recommended to have taken before | |||
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| Subjects that are recommended to be taken simultaneously |
| Subjects that continue the syllabus |
| Other comments | |
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