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BIO404 – MAKEUP EXAM – 14.01.2020

Q1 - Consider disruptive selection on a pigmentation phenotype that is leading to divergence within populations of lizards
living in a forest and neighboring open areas, creating a gradient. Zoologists claim that the two populations are incipient
species.
a. What is the name of this speciation model? 1 pt
Parapatric speciation

b. Considering both selection and drift, how would population bottlenecks of the lizard populations influence the probability
of speciation? Explain in <10 words. 2 pt
Speed up speciation by drift

c. How would gene flow between populations influence the probability of speciation? Explain in <10 words. 2 pt
Slow down speciation by preventing differentiation

d. You observe that forest and open area lizards have generally similar genitalia (reproductive organs). But in the hybrid zone,
forest lizard penises are much longer than those of open area lizards. What does this observation imply about the fitness of
forest-open area hybrids? Explain in 1 sentence. 3 pt
Hybrids have low fitness, causing reproductive character displacement

Q2 - Humans and chimpanzees show more nucleotide differences on the autosomes (1.2%) than on the X chromosome
(<1%). Provide two distinct explanations for lower divergence in (a) protein-coding and (b) non-coding regions, 1 sentence
each (consider differences between spermatogenesis and oogenesis, and also male hemizogosity). 2 pt each
Protein-coding regions: autosomes exposed to extra mutations during continuous spermatogenesis

Non-coding regions: hemizygosity in males causing stronger selection, against recessive alleles

Q3 - Domestic animals have evolved smaller brains than their wild counterparts (e.g. dog vs wolf). Provide two hypothetical
explanations with two distinct evolutionary mechanisms involved. Explain in 1 sentence each. 1 pt each
1- selection for small brain size by humans

2- drift - not necessary anymore

Q4 - The long-term number of breeding individuals in Asian elephants is 1,000 females and 1,000 males.
- What is the effective population size of this population? 2 pt
2000

- If the mitochondrial mutation rate per generation per base pair is 1e-7, how many nucleotide differences do you expect on
average between mtDNA sequences of two unrelated males, given that mtDNA is about 15kb long? Write the formula and
calculate the exact result. (You can derive the formula from the coalescent) 5 pt
- average coalescence time = 2Ne.
total differences: 2Ne*mu*15kb = 2*1e3*1e-7*15e3 = 30*e-1 = 3

- How many nucleotide differences do you expect on average between mtDNA sequences of two female siblings? 3 pt
total differences: 2*mu*15kb = 2*1e-7*15e3 = 3e-3 ~0
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Q5 - In many eukaryotic species, the transition mutation G/C -> A/T happens >5x higher than the reverse transition (A/T ->
G/C), and also higher than the transversion mutations.

a. Does this suggest that in the long-run, all G/C alleles in silent regions of the genome will become A/T? Explain in <10
words. 3 pt
no, would reach an equilibrium

b. You wish to draw a phylogenetic tree for mammals using a 10 kb intergenic region. Which type of mutation would you
prefer to use, transitions or transversions? Explain in <5 words. 2 pt

transversions better, will saturate slower.

Q6 - Consider a dog breeder who wishes to select for faster running huskies. The parental population has a mean of 10 miles
per hour. From this population, the breeder chooses only parents with a mean of 15 miles per hour. The standard deviation is
2 mph. If the narrow sense heritability of running speed is 50%, what will be the mean speed of offspring? Calculate using the
formula R=h2*S. 4 pt.
R = (15-10)*0.5 = 2.5. Offspring speed = 10+2.5 = 12.5

- If the breeder continued this experiment, applying the same selection pressure, how will heritability change, and how will
the response change? Explain in <15 words. 3 pt
Lower heritability due to loss of variation by selection, and slower response.

Q7 - Study the below graph that represents testis weight/body weight ratios
for different primate species, including human, chimpanzee, and other
primates, colored according to their breeding system (multi-male vs. single
male=harem or monogamy). In single male and monogamy systems, a female
mates with a single male during oestrous; in multi-male systems, a female
mates with multiple males.

- How can you explain the relationship between testis weight/body weight
ratios and breeding system? What type of competition may be involved (inter-
species, inter-sex, inter-male, inter-female, intra-individual)? Explain in <10
words. 3 pt
Inter-male competition for mating leads to larger testes.

- Given that some primates are more related to each other, why would it be incorrect to perform a t-test to compare testis
weight/body weight ratios between multi-male and single male species in this graph directly? (Hint: why are independent
contrasts needed?) Explain in <10 words. 2 pt
Species are related, so the data is not independent.

- Chimpanzee and macaque have multi-male mating systems, while human and gorilla have single male/monogamous
systems. Does this suggest that multi-male systems have evolved convergently? Why or why not? Explain in <20 words. 2 pt
Yes, because humans and chimps are closest relatives, but gorillas and humans share a trait.