Download Document

Evolution – Bio 332
FALL 2013
Theodosius Dobzhansky
1973
Some Practical Applications of Evolutionary Biology:
Human Health:
 Pathogens and antibiotic resistance
 Gene function through comparative study
 Tracing the origin and spread of infectious diseases
Ebola virus
 Nucleotide changes responsible for disorders
 Long-term consequences of medical intervention
Example: How do host – pathogen/parasite
relationships change through time?
Human HIV
Virus Structure
How do host – pathogen/parasite relationships
change through time?
How do host – pathogen/parasite relationships
change through time?
•
Two scenarios for why AZT stopped working:
Note: AZT must be activated by the body before its effective against HIV
Larder et al. Science
How do host – pathogen/parasite relationships
change through time?
Modified from Mohri et al. 1993
Reverse Evolution?
•
What happens to the virus if a patient stops taking AZT?
Evolving Antibiotic Tolerance (NOT resistance)
Norfloxacin
Survival after 8 hrs
Fridman et al. 2014. Nature
Some Practical Applications of Evolutionary Biology:
Pharmaceutical Industry:
 Drug design by in vitro or in vivo evolution
 Targeted searches for natural products
Some Practical Applications of Evolutionary Biology:
Agriculture:
 Crop improvement by selective breeding
 Evolution of pesticide resistance
 Transgenic organisms – advantages and risks
Some Practical Applications of Evolutionary Biology:
Fisheries Biology:
 Genetic consequences of selective harvesting
 What implications does this have for evo of the pop?
Some Practical Applications of Evolutionary Biology:
Fisheries Biology:
 What are some
consequences of hatcheries
on wild populations?
Araki et al. 2007. Science. Genetic Effects of Captive
Breeding Cause a Rapid, Cumulative Fitness Decline in
the Wild.
Some Practical Applications of Evolutionary Biology:
Conservation Biology:
 Identification of evolutionary
significant units
 Avoidance of inbreeding
depression in captivity
 Identification of minimal
population size for viability
 Predicting the response to
global change
Adaptive response to an introduced species
Gall and Mathis. 2010. Ethology