GENETIC VARIANT

CONNECTION TO EVOLUTION
B Y: PA O L A V E L E Z

ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
1. How do changes in the genetic material
of organisms influence phenotypes?
2. What can those phenotypic changes
teach us about Evolution?

BACKGROUND INFORMATION
From Atom to Traits written by developmental
biology professor David Kingsley talks about how
Charles Darwin saw random variations in
organisms and how it contributed to bring forth
materialistic use for evolution. He also talks about
how now scientists are revealing that diversity
arises from changes to DNA and can result in many
different creatures and even cultures.

WHAT IS A GENETIC VARIANT?

A genetic variant is the differences in DNA both
enclosed by a population and surrounded by a
population.

GENETIC VARIANT
Duplication

Sequences that have

the same base pair
continuously reapeated
eight or more times also
known as
homopolymers are
extreamly bound to
make copying errors.

Question

DUPLICATION IN PIGS
Color Changes

The gain of two

additional C-G pairs in
such a sequence
inactivates a gene for
a signal receptor in
pigment cells,
producing lightcolored coats. (From
Atoms to Traits)

Example:

DUPLICATION IN PIGS
Color Changes

Copying mistakes
within individual cells
can also cause the
duplication sequence
to lose bases,
restoring the genes
function and
producing dark
patches on the body.
(From Atoms to Traits)

Example:

DUPLICATON ON PIGS
VariantDuplication: a DNA segment in a chromosome
thats a copy of another segment
Inheritance- Differences are inherited from
parents to its offspring
(Artifical) Selection- Some variants are favorable
depended on their color and size.

Question

How does duplication

influence an
organisms
phenotyipical change?

Answer

Scientist have found that

duplications in pigs have
disproportionally affected
genes involved in lipid
metabolism, putatively
related to the history if
selection for fatness of the
pig. (TGP 87)

DUPLICATON ON PIGS
Time- Number of generations
Adaptation- Favorable traits become more common like
color mutations in the duplication process.
Neutral because although pigs do have inherited
characteristic[s] that enhance an organism's ability to
survive and reproduce in a particular environment (Biology
Book) like the coping (black spot resulting) mistakes;
Individuals able to survive and reproduce under harsh
conditions left offspring that carried their alleles forward
into subsequent generations.(Biology Book).

CONNECTION TO EVOLUTION

Over time we can tell the

pigs apart by its
phenotypical changes.
The differences of variation
that the pigs inherit (by
having a gene for
duplication) would be
selected for them when
artifically selected by
owners.

To kill off the bigger pigs

and letting smaller pigs
live longer hoping they will
grow more.
OR
To kill off the normal pink
pigs more than the copied
mistake pig that looks
weird and probably be
harder for farmers to sell

WORKS CITED
Campbell, Neil A. Biology: Concepts & Connections.
New York: Pearson Learning Solutions, 2009. Print.
Kingsley, David M. From Atoms to Traits (n.d.): n. pag.
Web. 1 Apr. 2015.
Rothchild, Max Frederick, and Anatoly Ruvinsky. The
Genetics of the Pig. Wallingford, Oxon, UK: CAB
International, 1998. Print.
PICTURES
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