Exam 1: Week 4 and 5 Flashcards
sex defined by evolutionary biology
By sex in eukaryotes, we understand a more of less regular alternation of meiosis and syngamy
- traits and activities of bodies, such as the number of sexes and the differences between them, emerge as consequence of cellular processes
eukaryotes
(good nuts) organism whose cells have membrane bound nucleus
meiosis
a special type of cell division of germ cells in sexually reproducing organisms that produce the gametes, sperm or egg cells
- for the production of gamete cells which fuse in syngamy eventually ⇒ go from diploid to haploid
syngamy
the fusion of gametes to give rise to a zygote and initiate its development into a new individual organism or offspring
everyday language sex definition
something to do with bodies, categories of individuals, and certain activities and feelings
- The physical and behavioral characteristics that make males and females different from each other
- Either of two groups into which many living things are divided according to their roles in reproduction and which consist of males or females
- activity
mitosis
the division of somatic cells in eukaryotes => Greek for mitos = thread
- Each chromosome copies itself
- The microtubules pull threads apart and line up homologous pairs of chromosomes ⇒ homo in latin means same and logous in greek means origin
- Duplicated chromosomes are pulled apart so each daughter chromosome ends up with one copy of every chromosome present in the mother cell
T/F mitosis is asexual reproduction
True
diploid
two copies of every chromosome
haploid
one copy of every chromosome
crossing over
homologous chromosomes will swap sections of DNA
- Gametes are not identical to any chromosomes because they mix and match
- Nucleus divides into 2 daughter cells and these divide again which result in 4 daughter cells which are haploid (23 chromosomes only)
who was the first to publish crossing over in 1916?
Thomas hunt morgan
what happens to alleles for sexually vs asexually reproduction?
- in asexual reproduction you won’t get new combinations of alleles
- sexually reproducing creates 10 (for ex) different possible phenotypes that arise from the combination of 2 alleles
mullers ratchet
in asexual organisms, there is a ratcheting effect where evolutionary change only goes in one direction (downhill) ⇒ with every cell division there is a possibility for deleterious mutations which can exterminate the population
- If you are diploid, when you get two deleterious mutations then your lineage ends
- Problem for asexual reproducing species because they cannot recover from the mutations
how does sexual reproduction combat mullets ratchet?
because there is mixing of alleles they can prevent elimination because only some of the offspring will die ⇒ others will persist and keep reproducing
how do bacterium overcome mullets ratchet?
Some can engage in sex but not sexual reproduction and exchange genetic information
- They also have such a sheer number of offspring that doubles every hour or so then as long as the reproduction rate is faster than the mutation rate most of the daughter cells won’t have deleterious mutations ⇒ this is where benefits come in
Arguments for RQH (4)
- parasites have shorter generation time than their hosts
- Parasites evolve faster
- To keep even with parasites, hosts have sex
- Quick way to get genetic diversity
what is the arms race?
organisms are engaged in a race for reproduction and they are racing against other in the same species but also others that seek to exploit them (predators, parasites)
why is it that parasites reproduce faster?
they are small which means they can evolve faster
- live on or inside the prey and eats a little bit at a time
who came up with red queen hypothesis?
Hamilton
how does sex benefit individual genes?
sex increases the chance of each gene being on the winning team ⇒ selfish gene hypothesis
- In order to win the race genes must cooperate with one another
- If you can switch “teams” then eventually you can win ⇒ why genes recombine
explanations for evolution of sexual reproduction (3)
- Repairing DNA
- Eliminating bad mutations
- Increasing genetic diversity
Repairing DNA hypothesis
fixing errors during recombination that have occurred
Eliminating bad mutations hypothesis
escaping muller’s ratchet which helps populations evolve
increasing genetic diversity hypothesis
tracking variable environments ⇒ increases the rate at which populations can evolve and allowing organisms to keep up with parasites (arms race)