652-301 Genomes and Evolution

This subject replaces 652-301 Ecological and Evolutionary Genetics (prior to 2001).

Genetics 652-214 and 652-215.

BBiomedSc students: Genetics 652-214, 521-213 and 536-250.

Upon completion of this subject, students should have:

• acquired an up-to-date understanding of whole-genome mapping and sequencing projects;

• developed a capacity to critically review the written literature and to access web-based databases of genomic information;

• understood how genes, gene pools, and genomes change through evolutionary time;

• developed a critical appreciation for the methods used to detect and quantify the major evolutionary forces;

• comprehended the logic used in inferring evolutionary processes from patterns of genetic variation in space and time; and

• appreciated the connections between molecular evolution and conservation biology and phylogenetics.

The emphasis of this subject is on the use of molecular markers in genome mapping, in understanding how evolutionary forces shape the gene pool, in dissecting polygenic traits by mapping quantitative trait loci, and in other applications such as phylogenetics and conservation biology.

The topics covered will be classical population genetics, the measurement of selection, processes of speciation, conservation genetics, molecular evolution of single-copy and multi-copy genes, phylogenetic reconstruction, development of saturated linkage maps, physical mapping of genomes, whole-genome sequencing projects, mapping quantitative trait loci, comparative genomics, functional genomics, and high-throughput methods for scoring genetic polymorphisms.

A written class test during semester (20%); three tutorial assignments of not more than 500 words each due during the semester (30% in total); a 2-hour written examination in the examination period (50%).