My Evolution Blog- Kaelyn Page

Δp= S (pq) S= the selection coefficient. This is used to measure the advantage (or disadvantage) that one allele has over another. (s= 0.02) p= the frequency of the allele q= the frequency of 1- p. Together (pq)= genetic variation The increase in genetic variation causes a greater change in Δp.

The HWE, aka, Hardy Weinberg Equilibrium is the principle that the genetic variation in a population will remain constant from one generation to the next in the absence of disturbing factors. For example, mutations disrupt the equilibrium of allele frequencies by introducing new alleles into a population. This equilibrium states that there is no selection, no mutation, no migration, etc. NO OUTSIDE FACTORS. The HWE uses an equation: The Problems given in lecture were: In dwarbs the allele for a black tongue is recessive. In a population of 800 dwarbs 25 have black tongues.  1. what percentage of the population has black tongues?  3.1% 2. what are the frequencies of the dominant and recessive alleles?  dominant: 0.824  recessive: 0.176 3. what percentage of the population are heterozygous for this trait?  29% The delta-32 mutation, a recessive allele, gives humans protection from HIV infection. The frequency of this allele in a certain town is...

❓❓❓❓❓❓❓❓❓❓❓❓❓❓❓❓❓❓❓❓❓❓❓❓❓❓❓❓❓❓❓❓❓❓❓❓❓❓❓❓❓❓❓ One of my understandings that changed with the class was about common descent. In my mind, things had to look similar in order to be related- because that just makes sense, right? I look like my mom and my dad and my grandparents.... But then, once I heard about the aphids in the middle of fungus, I had to change my way of thinking. You have to think of common descent more in a genetic way than just phenotypic. And in the same category was my difficulty with the phylogentic tree as a whole. How to create them from scratch and how to tell the difference between monophyletic and paraphyletic . I have learned a lot throughout this course. I had Dr. Wiggins for genetics last semester, right before our semester got cut short. So, some of this stuff does seem a little bit like a review. But at the same time, I was a bit foggy on some of these subjects. So I am actually glad we are touching base with some of it again.  The phylogenetic trees, I ...

Altruism and kin selection are similar to each other; sometimes causing some confusion. Altruism is when an organism its behavior benefits another organisms at a cost to its self. Kin selection is specific to individuals that are in the same family. Given these definitions, one could easily come to a conclusion that kin selection is altruism in a specific form. An example of altruism and kin selection coming together is alarm calls. In certain groups of closely related animals (squirrels, apes, meerkats) members of the extended family will call out an alarm when a predator is near causing a threat. This act puts themselves in more danger but helping out members of the family. 

This week in lectures, we went over adaptations. More importantly, how some adaptations occur on the micro scale. Micro-evolution  is an evolutionary change within a species or group of organism over a SHORT period of time.   One really fantastic example of adaptations on a micro scale is the Soapberry bug. Or as Dr. Wiggins likes to call them, "butt bugs."  These bugs have stake in many places worldwide- From Oklahoma to Florida.  The cool thing about these bugs are, they used to have a long beak . This long beak was used to feed on large seed pods that were round with a larger diameter. Because of this, only soapberry bugs with the long beak could feed off this and the soapberry bugs with short beaks weren't able to. This inhibited their survival and therefore couldn't pass on their genomes.  But miraculously, an invasive plant🍃 species was introduced to the Florida area in the 1970's. This plant just so happened to produce small seedpods. (just what th...

Today's blog post is about different variations that can occur within the phylogenetic theme. The one variation I found the most interesting, and honestly the easiest to comprehend is: Horizontal Gene Transfer This is the nonproductive passage of genes among organisms.   A very unique and awesome example of horizontal gene transfer is between fugus and aphids. When l first heard that the aphid's clade was nested in the middle of a bunch of fungus, I thought it was a little.... "out-there."  To explain how these guys are related to each other is really cool and mind-blowing. The small thing that connects these two is the ability to produce carotenoids (orange/red pigment). Most species are NOT able to synthesize this themselves. They have to get it from outside sources. So, how are aphids able to do this?  Well, researchers were able to connect this ability back to fungi through horizontal  gene transfer. Fungi can self synthesize carotenoids , and through horizontal ...