BZ 220 New Stuff for the Final

Mutualism

Ecological interactions in which two species benefit through helping one another

Biological Altruism

Ecological interactions in which an organism helps another organism with a cost to itself

Prisoner's Dilemma

Ethical dilemma in which two players can either cooperate or defect, with the largest reward for you coming when you defect and the other player cooperates

Reciprocal Altruism Solution

It is evolutionarily worth paying the cost to help another individual if there is a high chance they will help you later

Traits of Winning Prisoner's Dilemma Strategies

Nice, retaliatory, and forgiving

Inclusive Fitness

The combination of direct and indirect fitness

Direct Fitness

The number of offspring an individual produces

Indirect Fitness

Incremental fitness benefit through the fitness of genetic relatives

Hamilton's Rule

When rb > c, altruism maximizes inclusive fitness among relatives

Haplodiploidy

Phenomena in hymenopterans in which females are diploid and males are haploid, making sisters more closely related than parents are to their offspring

Multilevel Selection

It is beneficial to be in a cooperative group if competing against other groups and/or selection at a group level is stronger than on an individual level

Evolutionary Transitions in Individuality (ETIs)

Process by which groups of individuals become integrated enough to evolve into new higher-level individuals

1st Stage of an ETI

The formation of groups

2nd Stage of an ETI

Increase of competition within groups

3rd Stage of an ETI

Cheating and conflict within groups

4th Stage of an ETI

Conflict mediation and enhanced cooperation

5th Stage of an ETI

Division of labor within the group

6th Stage of an ETI

Fitness decoupling and group-level indivisibility or individuality

Fitness Decoupling

Phenomena in which the fitness of the members of a group only exists when the members are in said group

Getting Together Model

Model of group formation in which many separate cells come together as a group

Staying Together Model

Model of group formation in which divided cells stay together as a group

Mito-FECA

Common ancestor of mitochondria

Archeal-FECA

Common ancestor of non-endosymbiotic organelles

Secondary Endosymbiosis

When a cell engulfs a cell that already has an endosymbiont, and both the endosymbiont and the engulfed cell are integrated in

Aggregative Multicelluarity

Multicellularity achieved through the getting together model

"Dicty"

Slime mold species that either lives as a single-celled organism or as a multicellular "slug"

Economy of Scale

When a group can perform an action better than a single individual can

Clonal Mutlicellularity

Multicellularity achieved through the staying together model

Eusociality

Social system with reproductive divisions of labor, cooperative brood care, and overlapping generations

Colonial Animals

Colonies of multiple clonal zooids or polyps

Fraternal ETIs

ETIs formed from related units

Egalitarian ETIs

ETIs formed from unrelated units

6 Common Features of all Cellular Life

Homeostasis, structural organization, metabolism, growth and reproduction, response to stimuli, and heritable variation

Miller-Urey Experiment (1953)

Study that simulated chemical cycling in the early atmosphere and ocean which led to abiotic amino acid formation

Wet-Dry Cycling Hypothesis

Monomers are concentrated in gels in dry conditions, encouraging dehydration reactions common in polymerization reactions

Clay and Mineral Catalysis Hypothesis

Monomers concentrate on minerals, clay, and metals which help to catalyze reactions

Hydrothermal Vent Catalysis Hypothesis

Monomers concentrate in the pores of hydrothermal vents with metallic minerals, which may help catalyze reactions

RNA World Hypothesis

RNA was the ancestral genetic material

Ribozymes

RNA-based enzymes that can carry out amino acid polymerization, RNA litigation, and self-splicing

Hypercycle

Form of a cooperative network of RNA world replicators catalyzing one another's formation

2 Main Challenges for Hypercycles

Dilution and cheaters

Encapsulation

Process by which an RNA hypercycle is encapsulated in a proto-membrane, lessening dilution and cheating

Compositional Inheritance

Daughter vesicles inherit the composition of parent vesicles

Protocell Theory

Protocells formed through the coevolution of encapsulated RNA hypercycles and protocell vesicles

FUCA

First universal common ancestor

LUCA

Last universal common ancestor

Phylogenetic Event Horizon

Event beyond which phylogenetic approaches cannot make inferences

G-Value Paradox

The number of protein-coding genes does not scale with organismal complexity

Virus

A nucleotide genome within a protein capsid that may or may not be alive

Overlapping Genes

Two readable gene sequences that overlap in the genome

Horizontal Gene Transfer (HGT)

Process by which genetic data is transferred between two cells not through the birth of new cells

Transduction HGT

HGT through prophages formed in a cell being released and inserting that DNA into a new host

Transformation HGT

HGT through the recombination of free DNA fragments into the genome

Conjugation HGT

HGT through the formation of a pilus through which plasmids are sent between cells

Transposons

Selfish genetic elements that move and replicate within the genome

Exon Shuffling

Crossover between exons, which can lead to more complex protein formation

Alternative Splicing

Process by which multiple proteins are made by the same gene

Degeneration

When a gene copy becomes a pseudogene and degenerates

Subfunctionalization

When a gene copy and original gene partition ancestral functions

Neofunctionalization

When a gene copy becomes a gene with a new function

Gene Tree

Phylogenetic tree of a specific gene

Orthologs

Genes related by speciation nodes

Paralogs

Genes related by duplication events

Cis Regulatory Elements

Regulatory elements that are a part of the DNA strand which they influence

Trans Regulatory Elements

Regulatory elements that bind onto the DNA strand

Choanoflagellates

Unicellular sister group of animals

Hetereochrony

Changes in the timing or rate of development

Neoteny

The retaining of juvenile characteristics into adulthood

Hox Genes

Genes encoding for transcription factor proteins regulating the anterior-posterior body axis development in most animals

Ultrabithorax (Ubx)

Hox gene that represses limb development in arthropods

2R Hypothesis

Two separate genome duplication events occurred in vertebrates

MADS-Box Genes

Transcription factors in plants that help regulate development

Von Baer's Law

Outdated model stating that general traits develop before specialized traits during development

Developmental Hourglass Model

Less conserved early events are followed by a highly conserved phylotypic stage in which generalized traits developed, with later stages having more specific traits

Phylotypic Stage

Critical developmental period in which genes that are similar across taxa are expressed

African Great Ape Synapomorphies

Large ovaries and mammary glands, fused wrist bone, enlarged brow, short canines, elongated skulls, reduced hairiness

Incomplete Lineage Sorting

When alleles coalesce to a common ancestral copy earlier than when the species coalesce into a common ancestral population

Indicators of Incomplete Lineage Sorting

Polymorphic alleles in ancestral populations and differential extinction of alleles among descendant lineages

Sahelanthropus tchadensis

Early hominid from 6mya in Chad that had a small brain case, flat face, and possible facultative bipedalism

Aridpithecus ramidus

Early hominid from 4.4mya in Ethiopia with a small brain case, opposable toes, facultative bipedalism, and small canines

Adaptations Facilitating Hominid Tool Use

Unique thumb muscles and thicker metacarpal heads

Austalopithecus

Early hominid from 4.2-1.9myain East Africa with a flat face, small canines, habitual bipedalism, and possible tool use

Paranthropus

Early hominid from 2.7-1mya in East/South Africa with megadont teeth, robust jaws, a wide face, and a sagittal crest

Homo habilis

Early hominid from 2.4-1.6mya in East/South Africa with a large brain, round skull, flat face, and stone tool use

Homo erectus

Early hominid from 1.7-0.4mya in Africa/Asia with tall and long legs, a large brain, long-distance movement, refined tools, carnivory, and use of fire

Homo neanderthalis and Homo heidelbergensis

Early hominids from 800,00-30,000 years ago in Europe, Asia, and Africa with large brains, a heavy brow, short stocky bodies, and culture

Ecological Human Cognition Hypothesis

Ecological changes selected for complex behaviors and memories to find welfare factors

Dietary Human Cognition Hypothesis

Dietary changes and cooking decrease nutrient limitations and allowed for larger brains

Social Human Cognition Hypothesis

Increased reliance on group behavior selected for language and cognition

Sexual Selection Human Cognition Hypothesis

Art, tools, and language in humans are extreme examples of sexual selection

Out of Africa Hypothesis

Humans evolved from H. heidelbergensis in Africa which then dispersed off the continent

Race Norming

The process of changing medical advice based on a patient's race

Fetopelvic Disproportion

The difference between the fetal head circumference and the mother's pelvic birth canal

Antibiotic Resistance

The rapid evolution of bacteria to become resistant to the effects of antibiotics

Immunological Escape

The evolution of a pathogen to avoid the immunity of a host

Adaptive Cancer Therapy

Form of cancer therapy in which treatment drugs do not eliminate cancer, but maintain it at a nondangerous level

Evolutionary Mismatch

When a trait has evolved for conditions that an organism no longer lives in, leading to deleterious effects

Phylogenetic Constraint

Phenomena in which an organism's evolutionary past limits further evolution, leading to suboptimal structures

Antagonistic Pleiotropy Hypothesis

Pleiotropic alleles that are beneficial when young but deleterious when old are selected for evolutionarily

Disposable Soma Hypothesis

There is a tradeoff between investment in maintenance and reproduction