POPULATION GENETICS AND

EVOLUTION
 POPULATION GENETICS

• IS A SUBFIELD OF GENETICS THAT DEALS WITH GENETIC DIFFERENCES AND POPULATIONS.

• THE STUDY OF GENETIC VARIATIONS WITHIN POPULATION
 EVOLUTION

• THE CHANGE OF CHARACTERISTICS OF SPECIES OVER SEVERAL GENERATIONS AND RELIES ON

THE PROCESS OF NATURAL SELECTION
• THESE CHARACTERISTICS ARE EXPRESSIONS OF GENES THAT ARE PASSED DOWN ON FROM
PARENT TO OFFSPRING DURING REPRODUCTION
 MUTATION

• IS A PERMANENT ALTERATION OF THE SEQUENCE OF THE GENOME OF AN ORGANISM OR

ALTERATIONS ON THE DNA SEQUENCE
• THIS RESULTS IN CHANGES IN THE PROTEINS THAT ARE MADE. THIS CAN BE A BAD OR A GOOD
THING.
• MUTATIONS CAN ALSO OCCUR AS THE RESULT OF EXPOSURE TO ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS
SUCH AS SMOKING, SUNLIGHT AND RADIATION.
 TYPES OF MUTATIONS

SUBSTITUTION
-A SUBSTITUTION IS A MUTATION THAT EXCHANGES ONE BASE FOR ANOTHER
INSERTION
-ARE MUTATIONS IN WHICH EXTRA BASE PAIRS ARE INSERTED INTO A NEW PLACE IN THE DNA.
DELETION
-MUTATIONS IN WHICH A SECTION OF DNA IS LOST, OR DELETED
FRAMESHIFT
-THIS TYPE OF MUTATION OCCURS WHEN THE ADDITION OR LOSS OF DNA BASES CHANGES A
GENE'S READING FRAME
 GENE FLOW

• IS THE MOVEMENT OF ALLELES FROM ONE POPULATION TO ANOTHER

• IS THE TRANSFER OF GENETIC VARIATION FROM ONE POPULATION TO ANOTHER
• IT IS ALSO CALLED MIGRATION OR GENE MIGRATION
WHAT CAUSES GENE FLOW?
 GENETIC DRIFT

• IS A MECHANISM OF EVOLUTION RESPONSIBLE FOR RANDOM CHANGES IN A GENE POOL

• GENETIC DRIFT OCCURS IN ALL POPULATIONS OF NON-INFINITE SIZE, BUT ITS EFFECTS ARE
STRONGEST IN SMALL POPULATIONS.
• GENETIC DRIFT MAY RESULT IN THE LOSS OF SOME OR RISE ON THE FREQUENCY OF GENES
 TYPES

POPULATION BOTTLENECK

FOUNDER EFFECT
 ALLELE

• ALLELE IS AN ALTERNATIVE FORM OF A GENE THAT IS LOCATED AT A SPECIFIC POSITION ON A

SPECIFIC CHROMOSOME
• OUR CELLS HAVE TWO ALLELES FOR EACH GENE, ONE FROM EACH PARENT
 CHARLES DARWIN

• IS BEST KNOWN FOR HIS WORK AS A NATURALIST, DEVELOPING A THEORY OF EVOLUTION TO

EXPLAIN BIOLOGICAL CHANGE.
• CHARLES ROBERT DARWIN (FEBRUARY 12, 1809 TO APRIL 19, 1882) WAS A NATURALIST AND
BIOLOGIST KNOWN FOR HIS THEORY OF EVOLUTION AND THE PROCESS OF NATURAL SELECTION.
BORN IN SHREWSBURY, ENGLAND, IN 1831 HE EMBARKED ON A FIVE-YEAR SURVEY VOYAGE
AROUND THE WORLD ON THE HMS BEAGLE; HIS STUDIES OF SPECIMENS LED HIM TO FORMULATE
HIS THEORIES. IN 1859, HE PUBLISHED ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES.
• DARWIN’S THEORY OF EVOLUTION DECLARED THAT SPECIES SURVIVED THROUGH A PROCESS
CALLED "NATURAL SELECTION," WHERE THOSE THAT SUCCESSFULLY ADAPTED, OR EVOLVED, TO
MEET THE CHANGING REQUIREMENTS OF THEIR NATURAL HABITAT THRIVED, WHILE THOSE THAT
FAILED TO EVOLVE AND REPRODUCE DIED OFF
 NATURAL SELECTION

• A NATURAL PROCESS THAT RESULTS IN THE SURVIVAL AND REPRODUCTIVE SUCCESS OF

INDIVIDUALS OR GROUPS BEST ADJUSTED TO THEIR ENVIRONMENT AND THAT LEADS TO THE
PERPETUATION OF GENETIC QUALITIES BEST SUITED TO THAT PARTICULAR ENVIRONMENT
• NATURAL SELECTION INCREASES OR DECREASES BIOLOGICAL TRAITS WITHIN A POPULATION,
THEREBY SELECTING FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH GREATER EVOLUTIONARY FITNESS.
TYPES OF NATURAL SELECTION
 ADAPTIVE SELECTION

• IF NATURAL SELECTION FAVORS AN AVERAGE PHENOTYPE BY SELECTING AGAINST EXTREME

VARIATION, THE POPULATION WILL UNDERGO STABILIZING SELECTION. FOR EXAMPLE, IN A
POPULATION OF MICE THAT LIVE IN THE WOODS, NATURAL SELECTION WILL TEND TO FAVOR
INDIVIDUALS THAT BEST BLEND IN WITH THE FOREST FLOOR AND ARE LESS LIKELY TO BE SPOTTED
BY PREDATORS. ASSUMING THE GROUND IS A FAIRLY CONSISTENT SHADE OF BROWN, THOSE MICE
WHOSE FUR IS MOST-CLOSELY MATCHED TO THAT COLOR WILL MOST PROBABLY SURVIVE AND
REPRODUCE, PASSING ON THEIR GENES FOR THEIR BROWN COAT. MICE THAT CARRY ALLELES THAT
MAKE THEM SLIGHTLY LIGHTER OR SLIGHTLY DARKER WILL STAND OUT AGAINST THE GROUND
AND WILL MORE PROBABLY DIE FROM PREDATION. AS A RESULT OF THIS STABILIZING SELECTION,
THE POPULATION’S GENETIC VARIANCE WILL DECREASE.
 DIRECTIONAL SELECTION

• WHEN THE ENVIRONMENT CHANGES, POPULATIONS WILL OFTEN UNDERGO DIRECTIONAL

SELECTION, WHICH SELECTS FOR PHENOTYPES AT ONE END OF THE SPECTRUM OF EXISTING
VARIATION
• EXAMPLE OF THIS TYPE OF SELECTION IS THE EVOLUTION OF THE PEPPERED MOTH PRIOR TO
THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION, THE MOTHS WERE PREDOMINATELY LIGHT IN COLOR, WHICH
ALLOWED THEM TO BLEND IN WITH THE LIGHT-COLORED TREES AND LICHENS IN THEIR
ENVIRONMENT. AS SOOT BEGAN SPEWING FROM FACTORIES, THE TREES DARKENED AND THE
LIGHT-COLORED MOTHS BECAME EASIER FOR PREDATORY BIRDS TO SPOT.
 SEXUAL SELECTION

• A TYPE OF NATURAL SELECTION, WHERE MEMBERS OF THE SEXES ACQUIRE DISTINCT FORMS
BECAUSE MEMBERS CHOOSE MATES WITH PARTICULAR FEATURES OR BECAUSE COMPETITION
FOR MATES WITH CERTAIN TRAITS SUCCEED
SOURCES:
• HTTPS://WWW2.LE.AC.UK/PROJECTS/VGEC/HIGHEREDUCATION/TOPICS/POPULATION-
GENETICS
• HTTPS://EN.WIKIPEDIA.ORG/WIKI/GENE_FLOW
• HTTPS://WWW.YOURGENOME.ORG/FACTS/WHAT-IS-A-MUTATION
• HTTPS://WWW.QUORA.COM/WHAT-ARE-SOME-EXAMPLES-OF-GENETIC-MUTATIONS-IN-
HUMANS
• HTTPS://STUDY.COM/ACADEMY/LESSON/GENE-FLOW-DEFINITION-EXAMPLES.HTML
• ESSENTIALS OF PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY (EIGHT EDITION)
• INTRODUCTION TO PHYSICAL ANTHROPOLOGY (NINTH EDITION)