Witness to Evolution Regents Biology 2006 2007 Witness

Witness to Evolution Regents Biology 2006 -2007

Witness to Evolution § Peppered Moth u 2 types: dark vs. light Peppered moth Regents Biology

Peppered moth: Evolution in action Year % dark % light 1848 5 95 clean air, light-colored bark 1895 98 2 pollution, dark-colored bark 1995 19 81 Clean Air Act, light-colored bark industrial melanism Regents Biology

Peppered moth § Why did the population change? u early 1800 s = pre-industrial England § low pollution § lichen on trees = light colored bark u late 1800 s = industrial § factories = soot coated trees § killed lichen = dark colored bark u mid 1900 s = pollution controls § clean air laws § return of lichen = light colored bark Regents Biology

What data from the Genome Project can tell us about evolution of humans Regents Biology

Chromosome Numbers in the great apes: human (Homo) chimpanzee (Pan) gorilla (Gorilla) orangutan (Pogo) 46 48 48 48 Change in chromosome number? If these organisms share a common ancestor, then is there evidence in the genome for this change in chromosome number Regents Biology

Ancestral Chromosomes Chromosome Numbers in the great apes (Hominidae): human (Homo) chimpanzee (Pan) gorilla (Gorilla) orangutan (Pogo) 46 48 48 48 Fusion Homo sapiens Inactivated centromere Telomere sequences Centromere Telomere Testable prediction: If common ancestor had 48 chromosomes (24 pairs) then humans carry a fused chromosome; or If common ancestor had 46 chromosomes (23 pairs) then apes carry Regents Biologya split chromosome.

Human Chromosome #2 shows the exact point at which this fusion took place Homo sapiens Inactivated centromere Telomere sequences Chr 2 “Chromosome 2 is unique to the human lineage of evolution, having emerged as a result of head-tohead fusion of two acrocentric chromosomes that remained separate in other primates. The precise fusion site has been located in 2 q 13– 2 q 14. 1 (ref. 2; hg 16: 114455823 – 114455838), where our analysis confirmed the presence of multiple subtelomeric duplications to chromosomes 1, 5, 8, 9, 10, 12, 19, 21 and 22 (Fig. 3; Supplementary Fig. 3 a, region A). During the formation of human chromosome 2, one of the two centromeres became inactivated (2 q 21, which corresponds to the centromere from chimp chromosome 13) and the centromeric structure quickly deterioriated (42). ” Hillier et al (2005) “Generation and Annotation of the DNA sequences of human chromosomes 2 and 4, ” Nature 434: 724 – 731. Regents Biology

In case you had any doubts… Regents Biology

Evolution is "so overwhelmingly established that it has become irrational to call it a theory. " -- Ernst Mayr What Evolution Is 2001 Professor Emeritus, Evolutionary Biology Harvard University (1904 -2005) Regents Biology 2006 -2007

Survival of the Fittest Regents Biology