Transcript Introduction

FORS 432/FORS
510
Molecular Ecology
courtesy of Carol Ritland
Molecules
Ecology
Molecules ???
Ecology ???
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Macromolecules
Metabolites
Molecules
protein
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Diversity
Species
Ecology
Biomes
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Molecular Ecology
Application
of molecular genetics methods
to ecological problems
Using genetic markers to study systematics,
phylogeography, phylogenetics, species
concepts, conservation biology, adaptation
and evolutionary concepts
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Applications
Examples
Historically (before
1978)
Evolution
Detection of forces
Model organisms eg. Any species
D. melanogaster
Conservation
Biology
Species specific
Did not exists
Started in 1978, a
well recognized field
Diversity
Bio community
Basic microbiology
Use molecular
markers and
genomics
Complexity
Soil
(Bacteria/Fungal
communities
Difficult to detect,
did not exists
Genomics, very
current
Summary
Currently (1978 to
now)
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Examples of environmental factors
influencing phenotypic traits
http://r4r.ca/en/stepoutside/natureguidesarchive/page/earlyjune-2011
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http://www.earthrangers.com/wildwire/top-10/top-10-biggest-cats
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Species of big cats
Acinonyx
jubatus
http://spako3.blogspot.ca/2012/04/iranian-
cheetah-uzpalang-irani.html
Puma
concolor coryi
http://gentlefootprintsanimalanthology.blogspot.ca/2010/04/big-
cats-dont-purr.html
http://specieshanginthebalance.com/en/florida-panther9
Genetic markers and big cats
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What are the molecular ecological stories
behind these big cats?
 How can macromolecules help with the
stories?
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Marker, L.L., Wilkerson, P., Sarno, R.J.,Martenson, J.,
Breitenmoser-Wursten, C., O’Brien, S.J. and Johnson, W.E.
(2008) Molecular Genetic Insights on Cheetah(Acinonyx
jubatus) Ecology and Conservation in Namibia. J. Heredity
99(1): 2-13
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Culver, M., Hedrick, P.W., Murphy, K., O’Brien, S.J. and
Hornocker, M.G. (2008) Estimation of the bottleneck size in
Florida panthers. Animal Conservation 11: 104-110
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History of Molecular Ecology
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Ecology is rooted in systematics and the
evolutionary processes
Around 400 BC Aristotle and
Pliny attempted some formal
systematics
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History of Molecular Ecology
1758 –Linnaeus produced the binomial
method
1858 – Darwin and Wallace delivered a joint
paper to a Linnean society
1859 – Darwin published The Origin of
Species, over 150 years ago (1859)
1867-Isolation of turacin (Church, 1870), a
cooper containing pigment, a chemical
only in the Musophagidae family.
-Advent use of macromolecule for
figuring out species relationships.
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History of Molecular Ecology
1933 – Robert Brown start the terms
nucleoplasm and cytoplasm
 1873- Chromosomes were observed but not
recognized for their significance
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1866-Gregor Mendel published Experiments on
Plant Hybridization (1865, 1866) forgotten and
rediscovered
 1901-William Bateson translated
Mendel’s paper (German)
Rediscovered by 3 independent botanist
(Correns, De Vries and Tschermak)
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History of Molecular Ecology
1903 – Walter Sutton proposed a
relationship between Mendels’
segregating factors,
chromosomes and inheritance.
 1909 – W.L. Johannsen proposed
the term gene
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1908 – Hardy and Weinberg
demonstrated population with
randomly mating individuals
retain their gene frequencies
from one generation to the next
“Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium”
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History of Molecular Ecology
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1930s - Ronald Fisher, J.B.S. Haldane and Sewall Wright =
mathematical works linking genetics with evolutionary
theory
Neo-Darwinism known also as The modern synthesis
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Random Drift theory contrast that of modern synthesis (Wright)
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1968 - M. Kimura than formulated the neutral
theory of molecular evolution
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History of Molecular Ecology
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1937- Haldane suggested that a loss of fitness was due to
recurrent mutations
 1950 – Muller suggested the concept of genetic load which
helped Kimura with his neutral theory of molecular
evolution
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1953 – Rosalind Franklin discovered the X-ray diffraction
of the DNA helix
1953 – The structure of DNA was co-discovered by
Watson and Crick
courtesy of Carol Ritland
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1990 – Molecular Ecology Journal began
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1966 Several independent researchers use
electrophoretic methods and histochemical
enzyme stains = genetic variability
 Publication of first journal for molecular
evolution (Journal of Molecular Evolution)
 1972, first successful evidence of molecular
cloning
 Edwin Southern (1975) created technique
Southern Blotting
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History of Molecular Ecology
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Fredrick Sanger (1977) Cambridge and
Walter Gilbert and Allan Maxam (1973)
Harvard created sequencing technique
 Kary Mullis (1983) perfected polymerase
chain reaction (PCR)
 2000 Genome Canada = genomics and
proteomics research
 2001 Draft human genome by Lander et al
and Venter et al
 2003 Barcodingcourtesy
of Life
(Herbert et al)
of Carol Ritland
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History of Molecular Ecology
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Genetics in Ecology
began with a
recognition of
chromosomes that their
impact on species
differentiation
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History of Molecular Ecology
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Changes in the frequency of traits over time
were related to ecological factors and the
pressures of natural selection
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History of Molecular Ecology
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Hybrid zones are often of great interest to
ecological geneticists
Cryptic phenotypes can mask species differences
and hybrids
Phenotype should show fitness variation and yet
be heritable
Phenotypic plasticity can confuse species,
population and individual differences
Sibling species can be difficult to identify when
they have arose from recent speciation events
courtesy of Carol Ritland
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History of Molecular Ecology
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Large genotypic
changes may result in
minimal
morphological
changes = cryptic
species
Conversely, large morphological
changes may not necessary equal
large genotypic changes
Morphological traits that are
polymorphic may not make for
ideal characters for population
studies
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Why do we bother with
molecular genetics in
Ecology?
What is a molecular marker?
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courtesy of Carol Ritland
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Molecular Markers
What are they?
- a readily detectable sequence of DNA or
protein whose inheritance can be monitored
To be useful molecular markers must possess
certain characteristics:
 preferably display co polymorphic
dominant inheritance
 reproducible
(both forms detectable
in heterozygotes)
 fast and inexpensive
to detect
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Molecular markers
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Historically (1900), the first molecular marker was
the use of protein in blood group (ABO) by Karl
Landsteiner
1910 – Von Dungern and Hirszfeld demonstrated
that ABO blood groups are heritable
1927 Landsteiner and Levine also discovered
other blood group (MN, Rh and P)
Today they are invaluable for blood transfusions
Many, many markers have since been discovered
and will be discussed in later lectures
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