Mechanisms of evolution I

obligatory courses

Fundaments of evolutionary theory (B.Sc. level). Fundamental genetics (B.Sc. level)

Classroom

Mechanisms of evolution on the molecular and genomic level. Theoretical foundations of evolution, origin and evolution of genetic information and its expression, evolution of nucleotide and protein sequences, genes, and genomes. Evolution and development.

Mechanisms of evolution on the level of sequences, genes, and genomes.

• theoretical basis of evolution in information theoryi;

• elements of population genetics - allele changes due to selection and drift, neutral evolution;

• origins and early stages of evolution of genetic information - from the first replicators to the cells;

• evolution of nucleotide and peptide sequences, substitution models, rate of evolutionary change, neutral molecular evolution and the molecular clock;

• origin of the eukaryotic cells, the endosymbiotic theory;

• genome evolution - duplication of genes and genomes, evolution of gene families, horizontal gene transfer, co-evolution of the nuclear and organellar genomes;

• phylogenetics and phylogenomics - principles and applications;

• fundamentals of evolution and development - allometry, evolution of body plans, deep homology;

• evolution of developmental control in plants and animals;

• evolution of complexity - mathematical models and empirical data, origin of evolutionary novelties - cooptation and functional change, the limits of complexity;

1) DL Hartl, AG Clark, Principles of population genetics, Oxford University Press, 2006

2) D Futuyma, Evolution, Sinauer, 2013

3) JC Herron, S Freeman, Evolutionary analysis, Pearson 2021

written exam

n.a.