BASIC MECHANISM OF

EVOLUTION
• Biological evolution, simply put, is descent with modification.
• This definition encompasses small-scale evolution (changes in
gene — or more precisely and technically, allele — frequency in
a population from one generation to the next) and large-scale
evolution (the descent of different species from a common
ancestor over many generations).
• Evolution helps us to understand the history of life.
• Biological evolution is not simply a matter of change over time.
• Lots of things change over time: trees lose their leaves,
mountain ranges rise and erode, but they aren't examples of
biological evolution because they don't involve descent through
genetic inheritance.
• Evolution is the process by which modern
organisms have descended from ancient
ancestors.
• Evolution is responsible for both the remarkable
similarities we see across all life and the amazing
diversity of that life — but exactly how does it
work?
• Fundamental to the process is genetic variation
upon which selective forces can act in order for
evolution to occur.
 This section examines the mechanisms of evolution
focusing on:
• Descent and the genetic differences that are heritable and passed on to
the next generation
• Mutation, migration (gene flow), genetic drift, and natural selection as
mechanisms of change;
• The importance of genetic variation;
• The random nature of genetic drift and the effects of a reduction in genetic
variation;
• How variation, differential reproduction, and heredity result in evolution
by natural selection; and
• How different species can affect each other's evolution through
coevolution.
• Populations evolve, but individual organisms do
not.
• A population is an interbreeding group of
individuals of one species in a given geographic
area at the same time.
• A population evolves because the population
contains the collection of genes called the gene
pool.
• As changes in the gene pool occur, a population
evolves.
Mechanisms of change
• Each of these four processes is a basic
mechanism of evolutionary change.
 1. Mutation
• Mutation is a change in DNA, the hereditary material of life.
• An organism's DNA affects how it looks, how it behaves, and its
physiology — all aspects of its life.
• So a change in an organism's DNA can cause changes in all
aspects of its life.
• A mutation could cause parents with genes for bright green
coloration to have offspring with a gene for brown coloration.
• That would make genes for brown coloration more frequent in
the population than they were before the mutation.
Mutation
• is a change in a DNA sequence, usually occurring
because of errors in replication or repair.
• Mutation is the ultimate source of genetic variation.
• Changes in the composition of a genome due to
recombination alone are not considered mutations
since recombination alone just changes which
genes are united in the same genome but does not
alter the sequence of those genes.
Sources of Genetic Variation
• Without genetic variation, some of the basic mechanisms of
evolutionary change cannot operate.
• There are three primary sources of genetic variation, which we will
learn more about:
1. Mutations are changes in the DNA. A single mutation can have a
large effect, but in many cases, evolutionary change is based on the
accumulation of many mutations.
2. Gene flow is any movement of genes from one population to
another and is an important source of genetic variation.
3. Sex can introduce new gene combinations into a population. This
genetic shuffling is another important source of genetic variation.
Mutations are random
• Mutations can be beneficial, neutral, or harmful for
the organism, but mutations do not "try" to supply
what the organism "needs."
• In this respect, mutations are random — whether a
particular mutation happens or not is unrelated to
how useful that mutation would be.
 Not all mutations matter to evolution
• Since all cells in our body contain DNA, there are
lots of places for mutations to occur; however, not
all mutations matter for evolution.
• Somatic mutations occur in nonreproductive cells
and won't be passed onto offspring.
• For example, the golden color on half
of this Red Delicious apple was
caused by a somatic mutation.
• The seeds of this apple do not carry
the mutation.
• The only mutations that matter to
large-scale evolution are those that
can be passed on to offspring.
• These occur in reproductive cells like
eggs and sperm and are called germ
line mutations.
A single germ line mutation can have a
range of effects:
1. No change occurs in phenotype
• Some mutations don't have any noticeable effect on
the phenotype of an organism.
• This can happen in many situations: perhaps the
mutation occurs in a stretch of DNA with no function,
or perhaps the mutation occurs in a protein-coding
region, but ends up not affecting the amino acid
sequence of the protein.
2. Small change occurs in phenotype.
3. A single mutation caused this cat's ears
to curl backwards slightly.
4. Big change occurs in phenotype
• Some really important phenotypic changes, like DDT
resistance in insects are sometimes caused by single
mutations.
• A single mutation can also have strong negative effects for the
organism.
• Mutations that cause the death of an organism are called
lethals — and it doesn't get more negative than that.
• There are some sorts of changes that a single mutation, or
even a lot of mutations, could not cause.
• Neither mutations nor wishful thinking will make pigs have
wings; only pop culture could have created Teenage Mutant
Ninja Turtles — mutations could not have done it.
 Mutations happen for several reasons.
1. DNA fails to copy accurately
Most of the mutations that we think matter to
evolution are "naturally occurring." For example, when
a cell divides, it makes a copy of its DNA — and
sometimes the copy is not quite perfect. That small
difference from the original DNA sequence is a
mutation.
2. External influences can create mutations
• Mutations can also be caused by exposure to specific
chemicals or radiation.
• These agents cause the DNA to break down.
• This is not necessarily unnatural — even in the most
isolated and pristine environments, DNA breaks down.
• Nevertheless, when the cell repairs the DNA, it might not
do a
perfect job of the repair.
• So the cell would end up with DNA slightly different than
the original DNA and hence, a mutation.
 Sex and genetic shuffling
• Sex can introduce new gene combinations into a
population and is an important source of genetic
variation.
• You probably know from experience that siblings are not
genetically identical to their parents or to each other
(except, of course, for identical twins).
• That's because when organisms reproduce sexually,
some genetic "shuffling" occurs, bringing together new
combinations of genes.
• For example, you might have bushy eyebrows and a big nose
since your mom had genes associated with bushy eyebrows
and your dad had genes associated with a big nose.
• These combinations can be good, bad, or neutral. If your
spouse is wild about the bushy eyebrows/big nose
combination, you were lucky and hit on a winning
combination.
• This shuffling is important for evolution because it can
introduce new combinations of genes every generation.
• However, it can also break up "good" combinations of
genes.
2. Migration/ Gene flow
• Gene flow — also called migration — is any movement of
individuals, and/or the genetic material they carry, from one
population to another.
• Gene flow includes lots of different kinds of events, such as pollen
being blown to a new destination or people moving to new cities
or countries.
• If gene versions are carried to a population where those gene
versions previously did not exist, gene flow can be a very
important source of genetic variation.
• In the graphic below, the gene version for brown coloration moves
from one population to another.
• Gene flow is the movement of genes between
populations.
• This may happen through the migration of organisms or
the movement of gametes (such as pollen blown to a
new location).
• Some individuals from a population of brown beetles
might have joined a population of green beetles.
• That would make genes for brown coloration more
frequent in the green beetle population than they were
before the brown beetles migrated into it.
3. Genetic drift
• Another mechanism for evolution is genetic drift,
which can occur when a small group of individuals
leaves a population and establishes a new one in a
geographically isolated region.
• Fitness of a population is not considered in genetic
drift, nor does genetic drift occur in a very large
population.
• Imagine that in one generation, two brown beetles
happened to have four offspring survive to reproduce.
• Several green beetles were killed when someone
stepped on them and had no offspring.
• The next generation would have a few more brown
beetles than the previous generation — but just by
chance.
• These chance changes from generation to generation
are known as genetic drift.
• Genetic drift — along with natural selection, mutation, and migration —
is one of the basic mechanisms of evolution.
• In each generation, some individuals may, just by chance, leave behind a
few more descendent (and genes, of course!) than other individuals.
• The genes of the next generation will be the genes of the "lucky"
individuals, not necessarily the healthier or "better" individuals.
• That, in a nutshell, is genetic drift.
• It happens to ALL populations — there's no avoiding the vagaries of
chance.