Lecture 9 : MECHANISMS OF EVOLUTION

I- Descent with Modification: A Darwinian View of life :

- Lamarck : + species evolve through use and disuse of body parts (the idea that parts of the body that are
used extensively become larger and stronger, while those that are not used deteriorate)
+ the inheritance of acquired characteristics.
- Darwin :
+ adaptations of plants and animals that inhabited many diverse environments. (natural selection )
+ Darwin could not explain precisely how organisms pass heritable traits to their offspring.
1) The Origin of Species two main ideas
+ Descent with modification explains life’s unity and diversity.
+ Natural selection is a cause of adaptive evolution.
2) Descent with Modification
The evolutionary tree => relatives => base on fossil-anatomy , appearance in strata and
geographic distribution .
 Artificial selection : humans have modified other species by selecting and breeding
individuals with desired traits
 Inference #1: Individuals whose inherited traits give them a higher probability of
surviving and reproducing in a given environment tend to leave more offspring than other
individuals. Descent With Modification:
 Inference #2: This unequal ability of individuals to survive and reproduce will lead to
the accumulation of favorable traits in the population over generations
 Natural Selection :
+ individuals that have certain heritable traits survive and reproduce at a higher rate
than other individuals
+ increases the adaptation of organisms to their environment over time
+ an environment changes over time => adaptation to these new conditions and may
give rise to new species.
3) Darwin’s theory : evolution occurs by natural selection .
Was based on four general observations
 Overproduction–each species produces more offspring than will survive to maturity
 Variation–individuals in a population vary, and some of the variation is heritable (this was
expanded by others later, as genetics came to be understood)
 Competition–there is competition among the individuals of a population for limited resources
(struggle for existence)
 Differential reproductive success–individuals that possess more favorable characteristics
(in the pool of variation) are more likely to survive and reproduce; those with less favorable
characteristics are less likely to survive and reproduce
4) 4 types of data in evolution
 Direct observation
 The fossil record
 Homology similarity resulting from common ancestry ( tính trạng giống nhưng chức năng khác)
Anatomical and molecular homologies
 homologous structures ( cơ quan tương đồng )
 vestigial structures ( cơ quan thoái hóa )
 Biogeography convergent evolution ( tiến hóa hội tụ ) : is the evolution of similar, or
analogous,features in distantly related groups.
 Analogous traits (đặc điểm tương tự ) they evolved independently from different ancestors,
these two mammals have adapted to similar environments in similarways.
II.The evolution of population ( tiến hóa quần thể )
Mutation (đột biến )
+ a change in the nucleotide sequence ofan organism's DNA
+ only mutations in cell lines that produce gametes can be passed to offspring
+ cause new genes and alleles to arise
 Mutation point (đột biến điểm )
+ a change in one base in a gene
+ have a significant impact on phenotype ( kiểu hình)
+ Mutations in noncoding regions of DNA are often harmless => neutral variation
+ The redundancy in the genetic code (đặc điểm thoái hóa của mã di truyền ), even a point
mutation in a gene that encodes a protein will have no effect on the protein's function if the amino acid
composition is not changed.

+ Mutations that result in a change in protein production are often harmful.

+ Mutations that result in a change in protein production can sometimes increase the fitnessof the
organism in its environment.
 Alter Gene number or Sequene ( thay đổi số lượng hoặc trình tự gen )
 Chromosomal changes that delete, disrupt, or rearrange many loci => harmful.
 In rare cases, chromosomal rearrangements may even be beneficial.
 erro in meiosis => duplicated gene (lặp lại ) => source of variation
 Mutation rate
+ Low in animals and plants.
+ Low in prokaryotes and higher in viruses .
Sexual reproduction ( sinh sản hữu tính )
+ shuffles existing alleles and deals them at random => determine individual gentoypes.
+ 3 mechanisms => shuffling: crossing over, independent assortment of chromosomes, and fertilization
+ recombination of alleles is more important than mutation in producing the genetic differences that
make adaptation possible ( organism that reproduce sexually )
Hardy-Weinberg theorem ( dùng để kt xem quần thề có tiến hóa không )
+ population : a group of individuals - same species - in the same area and interbreed, producing
fertile offspring.
+ gene pool which consists of all the alleles for all the loci in all individuals of the population
frequencies of alleles and genotypes in a population will remain constant from generation to generation
 p2+ 2 pq+ q2  p+q=1
• p = frequency of homozygous dominant genotypes
2

• 2 pq = frequency of heterozygous genotypes

• q2 = frequency of homozygous recessive genotypes
+ five conditions of Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium is not met:
 No mutations
 Random mating
 No natural selection
 Extremely large population
 No gene flow (no migration –no exchange of alleles with other populations)
Factors that alter allele frequencies in a population
 Natural selection
+ is based on differential success in survival and reproduction ( dựa vào sự # khả năng)
+ selection results in alleles being passed to the next generation in proportions that differ
from those in the present generation
+ brings about adaptive evolution by acting on an organism’s phenotype ( not genotype)
Relative Fitness ( giá trị thích nghi tương đối )
+ the contribution an individual makes to the gene poolof the next generation
+ NS acts on the genotype indirectly, via how the genotype affects the phenotype.
  Key role of Natural selection
+ increases the frequencies of alleles that enhance survival and reproduction
+ Adaptive evolution = the match between an organism and its environment
 Sexual selection
+ natural selection formating success.
+ intrasexual selection : compete between male for mate of the opposite sex
+ intersexual selection = mate choice : females choose among the males’ showiness

 Genetic drift ( phiêu bạt di truyền )

+ important in small population
+ allele frequencies fluctuate randomly from one generation to the next
+ reduce genetic variation through losses of alleles.
+ cause harmful alleles to become fixed.
 The Founder Effect ( hiệu ứng kẻ sáng lập )
When a few individuals become isolated from a larger population, this smaller group may
establish a new population whose gene pool differs from the source population
 The Bottleneck Effect ( hiệu ứng thắt cổ chai )
+ Reduce genetic variation
+ Change in the enviroment ( natural disasters ) => reduce population size suddenly

Gene flow
+ the transfer of alleles into or out of a population due to the movement of fertile individuals
or their gametes
+ reduce the genetic differences between populations
+ extensive enough => neighboring populations combining => single population with a
common gene pool
+ occur at a higher rate than mutation => alter allele frequencies directly > mutation

III. The Origin of Species

 Speciation : the origin of new species, is at the focal point of Darwin’s evolutionary theory.
Occurs in 2 ways :
+ Allopatric speciation : geographic barrier separates populations.
+ Sympatric speciation : no geographic barrier
 Microevolution changes over time in allele frequencies in a population => one gene pool
 Macroevolution :
+ the broad pattern of evolution over long time spans.
+ the cumulative effect of many speciation and extinction events.
+ essential formation of new species
 Reproductive isolation = preventing gene flow between two species
 prezygotic barriers : block fertilization from occurring (zygote formation)
 Habitat isolation
 Temporal Isolation
 Behavioral isolation
 Mechanical isolation
 Gametic isolation
 postzygotic barriers : reproductive isolation after fertilization has occurred
 Reduced Hybrid Viability : giảm sức sống
 Reduced Hybrid Fertility : giảm độ hữu thụ
 Hybrid Breakdown : suy thoái
  Other Definitions of Species
 The morphological species concept defines a species by structural features.
 The ecological species conceptviews a species in terms of its ecological niche.
 The phylogenetic species concept: defines a species as the smallest group of individuals on a
phylogenetic tree
 Hybrid Zones over Time
 Reinforcement : Strengthening of reproductive barriers reducing gene flow.
 Fusion : Weakening of reproductive barriers with eventual fusion into one species.
 Stabilizing : Continued formation of hybrid individuals