Bi9120 Ecological developmental biology

Faculty of Science
Autumn 2011
Extent and Intensity
2/0. 2 credit(s) (fasci plus compl plus > 4). Recommended Type of Completion: zk (examination). Other types of completion: z (credit).
Teacher(s)
Mgr. Lukáš Kratochvíl, Ph.D. (lecturer), doc. RNDr. Zdeněk Řehák, Ph.D. (deputy)
Guaranteed by
doc. RNDr. Zdeněk Řehák, Ph.D.
Department of Botany and Zoology – Biology Section – Faculty of Science
Contact Person: doc. RNDr. Zdeněk Řehák, Ph.D.
Course Enrolment Limitations
The course is also offered to the students of the fields other than those the course is directly associated with.
fields of study / plans the course is directly associated with
Course objectives
The lecture is focused on basic approaches to genotype-phenotype relationship and predominantly on the role of environment in phenotype forming. Macroevolutionary phenomena producing or constraining phenotypic variation are discussed as well. The aim of the lecture is to identify major trends in current understanding of proximate mechanisms leading to phenotypic diversity of living organisms.
Syllabus
  • 1. Introduction, historical contingency and importance of historical thinking in evolutionary biology, convergence, parallelism, re-evolution and their causes
  • 2. Genetic control of phenotypic traits I: single-locus changes and complex phenotype transformation, candidate genes, QTL, changes in protein-coding sequences, duplications, alterations of cis-regulation, gene expression
  • 3. Genetic control of phenotypic traits II: quantitative genetics and genotype-phenotypemapping, heritability and its estimation, inter-allelic interactions, Waddington´s metaphor of epigenetic landscape, regulatory networks
  • 4. Phenotypic plasticity: phenotypic flexibility,developmental plasticity,polyphenism, norm of reaction, canalisation (environmental, genetic), genetic assimilation, Baldwin effect, common gardenand transplant experiments, organisms as an integrated system (phenotypicaccomodation) with trade-offs among particular traits
  • 5. Trade-offs and their solutions depend on proximate mechanisms controlling trait expression, phenotypic polymorphisms, genetic polymorphism and phenotypic plasticity, evolution of polyphenism, role of hormones and epigenetic modifications in phenotypic plasticity (including maternal effects)
  • 6. Phenotypic plasticity, differential gene expression, epigenetic modifications, alternativemodifications of mRNA and other proximate mechanisms of phenotypic plasticity, constraints and limits of the evolution of phenotypic plasticity
  • 7.Constraints: developmental constraints, trait correlations as a constraint and as an adaptation, allometry and its evolutionary origin, interpretation of allometric relationships
  • 8. Ontogenetic, static and evolutionary allometry, allometry and norm of reaction, interpretation of complex allometries, proximate mechanismsof body size changes (hypertrophy, hyperplasia), consequences of cell size alterations, phenotypic correlates of genome size, dynamics and integrity of genome
  • 9. Sex determining mechanisms: asexuality, hermaphroditism, gonochorism, sex determination versus sex differentiation, alternative definitions of environmental and genotypic sex determination, evolution of sex-determining genes
  • 10. Proximate mechanisms of sexual dimorphism:importance of genetic correlation between sexes and resolution of intralocus sexual conflict, stages of sex chromosome evolution, sex linkage, activational and organisational hormonal effects and other mechanisms of sex specific gene expression
  • 11. Body plans, modularity, integration, Williston´s rule; fússion, heterotopy, duplikacation andfunctional divergence,co-option, deletion, heterochrony; conservatisms of developmental and physiological pathways and evolution of gene network regulation
Literature
  • Scott F. Gilbert and David Epel (2008): Ecological Developmental Biology: Integrating Epigenetics, Medicine, and Evolution.
  • Mary Jane West-Eberhard (2003): Developmental Plasticity and Evolution
Teaching methods
Lectures
Assessment methods
Oral exam
Language of instruction
Czech
Further comments (probably available only in Czech)
Study Materials
The course is taught annually.
The course is taught: in blocks.
General note: Bloková výuka předmětu proběhne 18.-20. ledna 2012, vždy v době od 9 do 17 hodin ve Vertebratologických sbírkách (1. poschodí budovy 23, Řečkovice).
The course is also listed under the following terms Autumn 2011 - acreditation, Autumn 2012, Autumn 2014, Autumn 2016.
  • Enrolment Statistics (Autumn 2011, recent)
  • Permalink: https://is.muni.cz/course/sci/autumn2011/Bi9120