Evolutionary Biology BIO 4113 Lecture 15: Molecular Systematics

Flashcards covering key terms and concepts from the lecture on Molecular Systematics, focusing on DNA and evolutionary relationships.

Molecular Systematics

A branch of systematics that uses molecular data, particularly DNA sequences, to study the evolutionary relationships among species.

DNA Hybridization

A technique used to measure the degree of genetic similarity between pools of DNA sequences, typically from different species.

Homology

The existence of shared ancestry between a pair of structures, or genes, in different taxa.

Coalescence

The process by which the genetic variants (alleles) found in a population coalesce back to a common ancestor as we look back in time.

Maximum Parsimony

A method in phylogenetics that seeks the simplest tree, or phylogenetic relationship, that explains a given set of data, minimizing the total number of evolutionary changes.

Homoplasy

The presence of similar traits in distantly related lineages due to convergent evolution rather than common ancestry.

Bootstrapping

A statistical method used to estimate the reliability of phylogenetic trees by randomly resampling data.

Allele Frequency

The proportion of a specific allele among all alleles for a particular gene in a population.

Phylogeny

The evolutionary history and relationships among individuals or groups of organisms, often depicted as a tree.

Adaptive Radiation

A process in which organisms rapidly diversify into a wide variety of forms to adapt to different environments.