Integrating Fossils, Natural Selection & Molecular Genetics: A Structured Inquiry-Based Evolution Lab

2016 ◽  
Vol 78 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-162
Author(s):  
David A. Wollert
Keyword(s):  
Natural Selection ◽  
Molecular Genetics ◽  
Gene Switches ◽  
Evolutionary Event ◽  
Polymerase Chain ◽  
Evo Devo ◽  
Fossil Data ◽  
Evolutionary And Developmental Biology ◽  
Evolutionary Role

This structured set of lab activities allows students to explore the evolution of pelvic spine reduction in stickleback fish. The exercise draws upon the field of evolutionary and developmental biology (evo-devo) and information presented in the HHMI Holiday Lecture entitled “Fossils, Genes, and Embryos.” Students analyze fossil data from a rich stickleback deposit in Nevada, documenting the evolution of pelvic spine reduction in a preserved population, and then use Hardy-Weinberg analysis to explore the role of natural selection in this type of evolutionary event. Finally, students use molecular genetics and polymerase chain reaction to uncover the evolutionary role of gene switches in pelvic spine reduction. Collectively, the lab activities explore a specific evolutionary event from the combined perspectives of fossil evidence, natural selection, and molecular genetics. The lab also serves as a good introduction to the concepts of gene switches and evo-devo.

Evo-devo: A New Evolutionary Paradigm?

2005 ◽  
Vol 56 ◽  
pp. 105-124
Author(s):  
Michael Ruse
Keyword(s):  
Population Genetics ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Newtonian Mechanics ◽  
Evo Devo ◽  
Morphogenetic Fields ◽  
Better Than

The homologies of process within morphogenetic fields provide some of the best evidence for evolution—just as skeletal and organ homologies did earlier. Thus, the evidence for evolution is better than ever. The role of natural selection in evolution, however, is seen to play less an important role. It is merely a filter for unsuccessful morphologies generated by development. Population genetics is destined to change if it is not to become as irrelevant to evolution as Newtonian mechanics is to contemporary physics. (Gilbert, Opitz, and Raff 1996, 368)

Overview of the Role of Molecular Methods in the Diagnosis of Malignant Lymphomas

1999 ◽  
Vol 123 (12) ◽  
pp. 1189-1207 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Jeffrey Medeiros ◽  
Jeanne Carr
Keyword(s):  
Polymerase Chain Reaction ◽  
Molecular Genetics ◽  
Tumor Suppressor Genes ◽  
Southern Blot Analysis ◽  
Molecular Genetic ◽  
Chromosomal Translocations ◽  
Chain Reaction ◽  
Malignant Lymphomas ◽  
Polymerase Chain

Abstract Objective.—To review the role of molecular genetics in the diagnosis of malignant lymphomas. Data Sources and Study Selection.—Primary research studies and reviews published in the English literature that focus on molecular genetics and malignant lymphoma, in particular, clonality, chromosomal translocations, tumor suppressor genes, and Hodgkin disease. Data Extraction and Synthesis.—Molecular genetics has an important role in the assessment of malignant lymphomas. Clonality, detected by Southern blot analysis or the polymerase chain reaction, is helpful for establishing the diagnosis of lymphoma in lesions with ambiguous morphologic and immunophenotypic findings. Southern blot analysis is the “gold standard” for clonality assessment, but the process is labor-intensive and time-consuming. Polymerase chain reaction analysis is more convenient, but a potentially significant false-negative rate exists in the analysis of some antigen receptor genes as a result of using consensus primers and the process of somatic hypermutation. Chromosomal translocations, which result in oncogene activation, occur in many types of B- and T-cell lymphomas, and their detection is helpful in classification as well as in establishing a diagnosis of malignancy. Gene rearrangements and chromosomal translocations also can be used to monitor minimal residual disease. Tumor suppressor genes, although their analysis is relatively less useful for diagnosis, are involved in both pathogenesis and tumor progression and will be more important diagnostically as this field continues to expand. Molecular genetic analysis has played a major role in improving our understanding of Hodgkin disease. Conclusions.—Molecular genetic tests are currently important ancillary tools for the diagnosis and classification of malignant lymphomas, and their role is likely to increase in the future.

Evo-devo: A New Evolutionary Paradigm?

2005 ◽  
Vol 56 ◽  
pp. 8-9
Author(s):  
Michael Ruse
Keyword(s):  
Population Genetics ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Newtonian Mechanics ◽  
Evo Devo ◽  
Morphogenetic Fields ◽  
Better Than

The homologies of process within morphogenetic fields provide some of the best evidence for evolution—just as skeletal and organ homologies did earlier. Thus, the evidence for evolution is better than ever. The role of natural selection in evolution, how–ever, is seen to play less an important role. It is merely a filter for unsuccessful morphologies generated by development. Population genetics is destined to change if it is not to become as irrelevant to evolution as Newtonian mechanics is to contempo–rary physics. (Gilbert, Opitz, and Raff 1996, 368)

scholarly journals Mammalian tumor-like organs. 1. The role of tumor-like normal organs and atypical tumor organs in the evolution of development (carcino-evo-devo)

2022 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. P. Kozlov
Keyword(s):  
Cell Types ◽  
Evolution Of Development ◽  
Subsequent Evolution ◽  
Main Text ◽  
High Incidence ◽  
Hereditary Tumors ◽  
Multicellular Organisms ◽  
Evo Devo ◽  
Evolutionary Role

Abstract Background Earlier I hypothesized that hereditary tumors might participate in the evolution of multicellular organisms. I formulated the hypothesis of evolution by tumor neofunctionalization, which suggested that the evolutionary role of hereditary tumors might consist in supplying evolving multicellular organisms with extra cell masses for the expression of evolutionarily novel genes and the origin of new cell types, tissues, and organs. A new theory—the carcino-evo-devo theory—has been developed based on this hypothesis. Main text My lab has confirmed several non-trivial predictions of this theory. Another non-trivial prediction is that evolutionarily new organs if they originated from hereditary tumors or tumor-like structures, should recapitulate some tumor features in their development. This paper reviews the tumor-like features of evolutionarily novel organs. It turns out that evolutionarily new organs such as the eutherian placenta, mammary gland, prostate, the infantile human brain, and hoods of goldfishes indeed have many features of tumors. I suggested calling normal organs, which have many tumor features, the tumor-like organs. Conclusion Tumor-like organs might originate from hereditary atypical tumor organs and represent the part of carcino-evo-devo relationships, i.e., coevolution of normal and neoplastic development. During subsequent evolution, tumor-like organs may lose the features of tumors and the high incidence of cancer and become normal organs without (or with almost no) tumor features.

scholarly journals Getting to Evo-Devo: Concepts and Challenges for Students Learning Evolutionary Developmental Biology

2013 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 494-508 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Hiatt ◽  
Gregory K. Davis ◽  
Caleb Trujillo ◽  
Mark Terry ◽  
Donald P. French ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Developmental Biology ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Molecular Biology ◽  
Evolutionary Developmental Biology ◽  
Undergraduate Biology ◽  
Integrative Framework ◽  
Core Concepts ◽  
Evo Devo ◽  
Evolutionary And Developmental Biology ◽  
Conceptual Difficulties

To examine how well biology majors have achieved the necessary foundation in evolution, numerous studies have examined how students learn natural selection. However, no studies to date have examined how students learn developmental aspects of evolution (evo-devo). Although evo-devo plays an increasing role in undergraduate biology curricula, we find that instruction often addresses development cursorily, with most of the treatment embedded within instruction on evolution. Based on results of surveys and interviews with students, we suggest that teaching core concepts (CCs) within a framework that integrates supporting concepts (SCs) from both evolutionary and developmental biology can improve evo-devo instruction. We articulate CCs, SCs, and foundational concepts (FCs) that provide an integrative framework to help students master evo-devo concepts and to help educators address specific conceptual difficulties their students have with evo-devo. We then identify the difficulties that undergraduates have with these concepts. Most of these difficulties are of two types: those that are ubiquitous among students in all areas of biology and those that stem from an inadequate understanding of FCs from developmental, cell, and molecular biology.

Evolutionary role of the community pharmacist A review

2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 136-139
Author(s):  
Firdous Fatima ◽  
◽  
Bushra Ali Sherazi
Keyword(s):  
Community Pharmacist ◽  
Evolutionary Role

Randomness and Complexity

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven E. Vigdor
Keyword(s):  
Quantum Mechanics ◽  
Natural Selection ◽  
Rna World ◽  
Biological Evolution ◽  
Variable Theory ◽  
Cosmological Natural Selection ◽  
Einstein Podolsky Rosen ◽  
World Hypothesis ◽  
Rna World Hypothesis

Chapter 7 describes the fundamental role of randomness in quantum mechanics, in generating the first biomolecules, and in biological evolution. Experiments testing the Einstein–Podolsky–Rosen paradox have demonstrated, via Bell’s inequalities, that no local hidden variable theory can provide a viable alternative to quantum mechanics, with its fundamental randomness built in. Randomness presumably plays an equally important role in the chemical assembly of a wide array of polymer molecules to be sampled for their ability to store genetic information and self-replicate, fueling the sort of abiogenesis assumed in the RNA world hypothesis of life’s beginnings. Evidence for random mutations in biological evolution, microevolution of both bacteria and antibodies and macroevolution of the species, is briefly reviewed. The importance of natural selection in guiding the adaptation of species to changing environments is emphasized. A speculative role of cosmological natural selection for black-hole fecundity in the evolution of universes is discussed.

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