Lecture 3: Origin of Life (What you should be able to do after the assigned readings and activities.

These outcomes are testable but may not be addressed directly in class .) In multiple choice format, identify... 1. characteristics shared by all life. 2. in what way properties of life are "emergent". 3. characteristics of the "habitable zone" of a solar system. 4. conditions of a primitive Earth. 5. types of molecules that were, and were not, synthesized by the Millar-Urey experiment. 6. characteristics of mimivirus that suggest it should be considered to be alive. 7. characteristics of virophage. (What you should be able to do after attending and reviewing the lecture. These Outcomes are testable on exams etc.) On multiple choice exams, you should be able to identify . . . age of the Earth. age of start of life on Earth. domains of life. characteristics of LUCA characteristics shared by all domains of life. reason why the term prokaryote is inappropriate. reductive evolution explanation for rise of bacteria and archaea. advantages of evolutionary simplification (streamlining). relationship between homochirality and life reasons why we think RNA was the first of the three molecules of the Central Dogma to evolve. force that drives RNA folding. characteristics of a ribozyme. mechanism whereby a ribozyme cleaves RNA. characteristics of amino transferase activity. reasons why a ribosome is considered a ribozyme.

advantage that protein has over RNA as a catalyst. advantage that DNA has over RNA as a repository for genetic information. chemical basis for the advantage that DNA has over RNA as a repository for genetic information. Lecture 4: Biodiversity (What you should be able to do after the assigned readings and activities. These outcomes are testable but may not be addressed directly in class .) In multiple choice format, identify... 1. significance of "tree thinking" to evolutionary theory 2. most recent common ancestor of two or more groups, given a phylogenetic tree 3. which groups are more versus less closely related to one another, given a phylogenetic tree 4. whether rotating internal nodes on a phylogenetic tree changes the information conveyed 5. contemporary and ancestral species on a phylogenetic tree (What you should be able to do after attending and reviewing the lecture. These Outcomes are testable on exams etc.) On multiple choice exams, you should be able to identify . . . most recent common ancestor (MRCA) for a given group(s), given a phylogenetic tree. why the idea that humans are descended from chimps is inaccurate. order of main branching events in tree of life (dates not testable). cause of global catastrophe associated with mass extinction 65 mya. relative species richness of protostome vs. deuterostome animals why some traditional groupings of organisms (reptiles, fish) do not reflect evolutionary relationships distribution of multi-cellularity in tree of life. why estimating numbers of species is uncertain. role of similarities due to common descent (eg DNA genome) vs. convergence (eg eyes) in constructing a phylogenetic tree.