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FORS 432/FORS 510 Molecular Ecology courtesy of Carol Ritland Molecules Ecology Molecules ??? Ecology ??? 2 Macromolecules Metabolites Molecules protein 3 Diversity Species Ecology Biomes 4 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 5 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) 6 Examples of environmental factors influencing phenotypic traits http://r4r.ca/en/stepoutside/natureguidesarchive/page/earlyjune-2011 7 http://www.earthrangers.com/wildwire/top-10/top-10-biggest-cats 8 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-panther9 Genetic markers and big cats What are the molecular ecological stories behind these big cats? How can macromolecules help with the stories? 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 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 10 History of Molecular Ecology Ecology is rooted in systematics and the evolutionary processes Around 400 BC Aristotle and Pliny attempted some formal systematics 11 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. 12 History of Molecular Ecology 1933 – Robert Brown start the terms nucleoplasm and cytoplasm 1873- Chromosomes were observed but not recognized for their significance 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) 13 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 1908 – Hardy and Weinberg demonstrated population with randomly mating individuals retain their gene frequencies from one generation to the next “Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium” 14 History of Molecular Ecology 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 Random Drift theory contrast that of modern synthesis (Wright) 1968 - M. Kimura than formulated the neutral theory of molecular evolution 15 History of Molecular Ecology 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 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 16 1990 – Molecular Ecology Journal began 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 17 History of Molecular Ecology 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 18 History of Molecular Ecology Genetics in Ecology began with a recognition of chromosomes that their impact on species differentiation 19 History of Molecular Ecology Changes in the frequency of traits over time were related to ecological factors and the pressures of natural selection 20 History of Molecular Ecology 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 21 History of Molecular Ecology 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 22 Why do we bother with molecular genetics in Ecology? What is a molecular marker? 23 24 25 26 courtesy of Carol Ritland 27 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 28 Molecular markers 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 29 30