| 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. |
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