CHAPTER 17: Selection and Evolution

VARIATION Environmental effects on the phenotype

‣ Causes of genetic variation Height
(Which produce phenotypic variation) • Affected by many different genes at different loci & strongly
• Independent assortment affected by environment
• Crossing over • Environmental effects may allow full genetic potential height to be
• Random mating between organisms within a species reached / may stunt it. One individual might have less nutritious
• Random fertilisation of gametes food than another with the same genetic contribution.
(Which produces completely new alleles)
• Gene mutation Hair colour in cats
• The development of dark tips on extremities (coldest parts) of the
‣ Genetic variation provides the raw material on which natural cat - caused by allele which allows formation of dark pigment only
selection can act at low temperature
‣ Phenotypic variation also caused by environment } this variation is
not inherited by offspring NATURAL SELECTION
Continuous and discontinuous variation ✴ Natural selection : Within a population, certain alleles may
increase the chance of survival and successful reproduction of an
Discontinuous Variation Continuous Variation
organism. These alleles are more likely to be passed on to the
Qualitative differences; have clearly Quantitative differences; No next generation than others.
distinguishable categories; no distinguishable classes; feature can ‣ Natural selection raises frequency of alleles conferring an
intermediates have any value between two advantage & reduces “ conferring a disadvantage
e.g. ABO blood groups: A, B, AB or extremes
O e.g. height and mass ✴ Fitness : the capacity of an organism to survive and transmit its
Different alleles at a single gene Different alleles at a single gene genotype to its offspring
locus have large effects on locus have small effects on the
phenotype phenotype ‣ Selection pressures
Biotic: e.g. predation, competition, infection
Different genes have quite different Different genes have the same,
Abiotic: e.g. water supply, nutrient levels
effects on the phenotype often additive, effect on phenotype

Large number of genes may have a Increase chances of some alleles being passed on to next
combined effect on a phenotypic generation, and decrease chances of others
trait; these genes: polygenes
CHAPTER 17: Selection and Evolution

EVOLUTION ‣ Disruptive selection

‣ Stabilising selection

- conditions favour both extremes of a population

- environment fairly stable - This section maintains different phenotypes (polymorphism) in a
- this selection tends to keep the variation in a characteristic centred population
around the same mean value
Antibiotic resistance
‣ Directional selection - Bacteria only have a single loop of DNA ( ∴ only one copy of each
gene) ∴ mutant allele conferring resistance will have immediate
effect on phenotype of any bacterium possessing it
- These individuals have tremendous selective advantage
- By using antibiotics, we exert greater selection pressure on
bacteria to evolve resistance to them

Sickle cell anaemia

- environment changes; alleles which were previously advantageous
may become disadvantageous // appearance of new allele
- Causes change in a characteristic in a particular direction
- may result in evolution : a long term change in the characteristics
of a species / in the frequency of particular alleles within the
species
- In areas where malaria is common, heterozygotes, HbᴬHbˢ, have a
strong selective advantage; they do not suffer from sickle cell
anaemia and are much less likely to suffer badly from malaria.
- The two strong opposing selection pressures on the homozygous ,
Hbᴬ Hbᴬ // HbˢHbˢ can counterbalance each other in maintaining
the two alleles
CHAPTER 17: Selection and Evolution
The founder effect and genetic drift
Genetic drift: change in allele frequency that occurs by chance,
because the few individuals that have them happen to not reproduce
Founder effect: occurs when a new colony is formed by a few
members of the original population. Small size of population means
that the colonisers have different allele frequencies from original
population
The Hardy-Weinberg principle
The frequency of a particular allele is likely to remain approximately
the same over many generations if:
✓ Population is large
✓ There is random mating within the population
✓ No significant selection pressures that give particular genotypes
advantage/ disadvantage
✓ no new mutations
✓ no introduction of new alleles by immigration
Heidy-Weinberg equations:
① p+q=1 p: f of dominant allele
② p² + 2pq + q² = 1 q: f of recessive allele
‣ When ratios of the different genotypes in a population have been
determined, their predicted ratios in the next generation can be
compared with observed values using 𝝌² -test.
‣ If differences are significant, then there is evidence that
directional selection is occurring in the population
ARTIFICAL SELECTION
‣ Selective breeding : the choice, by humans, of which animals /
plants are allowed to breed together, in order to bring about a
desirable change in characteristics.
‣ Through ^, over many generations, alleles conferring desired
characteristics increase in frequency
‣ Background genes: within each organism’s genotype are all the
alleles of genes that adapt it to its particular environment
THE DARWIN-WALLACE THEORY OF EVOLUTION BY NATURAL
SELECTION
‣ Natural selection - mechanism by which evolution could occur
‣ Deduction 1: There is a competition for survival
‣ Deduction 2: The best adapted variants will be selected for by the
natural conditions operating at the time. The ‘best’ variants have a
selective advantage.
SPECIES AND SPECIATION
‣ Species : a group of organisms with similar morphology, behaviour,
physiology and biochemistry that are capable of interbreeding to
produce fertile offspring.
‣ Speciation : the production of one or more new species from an
existing species.
Reproductive isolation has to occur for one population to become
unable to interbreed with another.
✴ Allopatric speciation
‣ Geographical isolation
‣ Over time, the group which gets separated becomes so different
from mainland population that the two populations can no longer
interbreed. New species evolves.

CHAPTER 17: Selection and Evolution
✴ Sympatric speciation
‣ Commonest way sympatric speciation occurs: through polyploidy
(polyploid: organism with more than two complete sets of
chromosomes in its cells)
- Occurs when meiosis goes wrong during gametes formation
- If two gametes with two sets of chromosomes each fuse, zygote ->
tetraploid
✴ Isolating mechanisms
Possible reasons for failure of two groups to interbreed:
Prezygotic isolating mechanisms
‣ individuals not recognising one another as potential dates / not
responding to mating behaviour
‣ animals being physically unable to mate
‣ incompatibility of pollen and stigma in plants
‣ inability of male gamete to fuse with female gamete
Postzygotic isolating mechanisms
‣ failure of cell division in zygote
‣ non-viable offspring
‣ viable, but sterile offspring
MOLECULAR COMPARISONS BETWEEN SPECIES
Comparing amino acid sequences of proteins
‣ The protein, cytochrome c, involved in the ETC, is found in a very
wide range of different organisms, suggesting that they all evolved
from a common ancestor.
‣ Differences in amino acid sequences in cytochrome c suggest how
closely or distantly related particular species are
Comparing nucleotide sequences of mitochondrial DNA
‣ Human mtDNA - inherited through female line
‣ Zygote contains mitochondria of ovum, not of sperm
‣ mtDNA is circular & cannot undergo crossing over. Changes in
nucleotide sequence only arises by mutation
‣ mtDNA mutates faster than nuclear DNA because it is not
protected by histone proteins. Oxidative phosphorylation in
mitochondria can produce forms of oxygen that act as mutagens
‣ The more similar the sequences of bases in mtDNA, the more
closely related two species are.
EXTINCTIONS
‣ causes:
xClimate change x Competition x Habitat loss x Direct killing by
humans