Biol375 2018

Molecular Evolution (BIOL 375.00/790.64/793.03, Fall 2018) Instructor: Dr Weigang Qiu, Professor, Department of Biological Sciences Room: 926 HN (Seminar Room, North Building) Hours: Mon. & Thur 4:10-5:25 pm Office Hours: Belfer Research Building (Google Map) BB-402; Tuesdays 5-7 pm or by appointment Course Website: http://diverge.hunter.cuny.edu/labwiki/Biol375_2018

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Course Description

Molecular evolution is the study of the change of DNA and protein sequences through time. Theories and techniques of molecular evolution are widely used in species classification, biodiversity studies, comparative genomics, and molecular epidemiology. Contents of the course include:

• Population genetics, which is a theoretical framework for understanding mechanisms of sequence evolution through mutation, recombination, gene duplication, genetic drift, and natural selection.
• Molecular systematics, which introduces statistical models of sequence evolution and methods for reconstructing species phylogeny.
• Bioinformatics, which provides hands-on training on data acquisition and the use of software tools for phylogenetic analyses.

This 3-credit course is designed for upper-level biology-major undergraduates. Hunter pre-requisites are BIOL203, and MATH150 or STAT113.

Please note that starting from fall 2015, completing this course no longer counts towards research credits for biology majors.

Textbooks

• (Required) Graur, 2016, Molecular and Genome Evolution, First Edition, Sinauer Associates, Inc. ISBN: 978-1-60535-469-9. Publisher's Website (Student discount: a 15% discount and receive free UPS standard shipping)

http://www.sinauer.com/molecular-and-genome-evolution.html)

• (Recommended) Baum & Smith, 2013. Tree Thinking: an Introduction to Phylogenetic Biology, Roberts & Company Publishers, Inc.

Learning Goals

• Be able to describe evolutionary relationships using phylogenetic trees
• Be able to use web-based as well as stand-alone software to infer phylogenetic trees
• Understand mechanisms of DNA sequence evolution
• Understand algorithms for building phylogenetic trees

Links for phylogenetic tools

• NCBI sequence databases
• R Tools
  • R source: download & install from a mirror site
  • R Studio: download & install
  • APE package
• A Molecular Phylogeny Web Server
• EvolView: an online tree viewer

Exams & Grading

• Bonus for full attendance & active participation in classroom discussions.
• Assignments. All assignments should be handed in as hard copies only. Email submission will not be accepted. Late submissions will receive 10% deduction (of the total grade) per day.
• Three Mid-term Exams (30 pts each)
• Comprehensive Final Exam (50 pts)

Academic Honesty

While students may work in groups and help each other for assignments, duplicated answers in assignments will be flagged and investigated as possible acts of academic dishonesty. To avoid being investigated as such, do NOT copy anyone else's work, or let others copy your work. At the least, rephrase using your own words. Note that the same rule applies regarding the use of textbook and online resources: copied sentences are not acceptable and will be considered plagiarism.

Hunter College regards acts of academic dishonesty (e.g., plagiarism, cheating on examinations, obtaining unfair advantage, and falsification of records and official documents) as serious offenses against the values of intellectual honesty. The College is committed to enforcing the CUNY Policy on Academic Integrity and will pursue cases of academic dishonesty according to the Hunter College Academic Integrity Procedures.

Course Schedule

Part 1. Tree Thinking

• 8/27 (M). Overview & Introduction. Textbook Chapter: "Introduction" (pages 1-3)

Assignment 1 (10 pts; Due next class 8/30)
(10 pts) Pre-test: Full credits will be given as long as each question is answered with some reasoning. In other words, it will NOT be graded on being right or wrong. It's an assessment tool, to be compared with later test outcomes to show teaching/learning results. File:Pretest.pdf

• 8/30 (TH). Introduction (Continued).
  • Go over pre-test questions
  • Tutorial: R & R-Studio (Bring your own computer).

Assignment 2 (5 pts; Due: next session)

R exercises Install R & R-studio (see "Links for phylogenetic tools" above) Open R-studio and install the "ape" package using the "Packages"->"Install" menu, located within the lower right window Type in the console window (lower left) the following commands (one at a time, wait for the prompt ">" to appear before proceed to the next command; quit & restart R-studio if stuck): library(ape) tr <- read.tree(text = "(monkey:0.09672,((tarsier:0.18996,lemur:0.14790)0.999:0.09005,(macaque:0.18524,(gibbon:0.10388,(orang-utan:0.09481,(human:0.03391,(gorilla:0.06135,chimpanzee:0.05141):0.01580)0.316:0.05381)1.000:0.03019)0.978:0.05616)0.997:0.05042)0.965:0.09672);") plot(tr) Export the tree graph using the "Export"->"Save as PDF" or "Save as Image" menu in the lower right window Exit R studio by typing the command "q()" and type "y" to answer the question for saving the R session Copy & paste the tree image into your document to be handed in

• 9/5 (Wed; Monday Schedule). Intro to trees.
  • In-class exercise 1.
    File:In-class-1-2018.pdf
    (5 pts; Due next session)
  • Introductory slide:
    File:Intro-2018.pdf
• 9/6 (TH). Intro to trees.
  • In-class exercise 2.
    File:In-class-2.pdf
    (5 pts; Due next session)
  • Textbook Chapter 5: "Molecular Phylogenetics" (pages 170-175; 201-202)
• 9/13 (TH). Species Tree & Lineage Sorting.
  • Textbook Chapter 5: "Molecular Phylogenetics" (pages 177-180).
• 9/17 (M). Consensus Tree & Review.
  • Chapter 5. pages 199-200 (Figure 5.31)
  • In-class exercise 3. (5 pts, due next session)
    File:In-class-3.pdf
  • Lecture Slides:
    File:Part-1-tree-thinking-2017.pdf
• 9/20 (Th). 4:10 - 5:10pm Midterm Exam I Bring pencils, erasers, and a calculator

Part 2. analysis of Trait Evolution

• 9/24 (M). Traits & trait matrix
  • Textbook Chapter 5, pages 180-183

Assignment #3 (5 pts; Due next session)
Watch Origin of Species: Lizards in an Evolutionary Tree. Provide short answer (1-3 sentences) to each of the following three questions. What are the two hypotheses explaining the origin of different ecomorphs of lizards on Caribbean Islands? What is the expected phylogeny under each hypothesis? Which hypothesis is supported by the phylogeny of actual DNA sequences?

• 9/27 (TH). Homoplasy & consistency

Assignment #4 (5 pts; Due next session)

Download or Copy/Paste the lizard DNA sequences to your own computer and save the file as "lizard.txt" Align the DNA sequences using this website and save the aligned DNA file ("Output->Alignment in Fasta format") as "lizard-aligned.txt". Use "one-click" option to make a tree. Based on the lizard card, construct a character-state matrix for all lizard species. For each species, list its character state for each of the following two characters (as columns): (1) Geographic origin, and (2) Habitat. Determine which hypothesis ("Multiple origin" or "Single origin" of ecomorphs) is more supported by the mtDNA tree. Explain.

• 10/1 (M). Parsimony reconstruction (Chapter 5).
  • Textbook Chapter 5, pages 188-191
• 10/4 (TH). Parsimony reconstruction (Continued)
  • In-Class Exercise 4 (Due next session)
• 10/11 (TH). Genome & gene structure (Chapter 3)
  • | Graur et al (2013). "On the immotality of television sets"
• 10/15 (M). Review & Practices. Lecture Slides:
  File:Part-2-trait-evolution-posted.pdf
  • In-Class Exercise 5. Pretest Part 2 (molecular phylogenetics in forensics)
• 10/18 (TH). Midterm Exam 2

Part 3. Tree Algorithms

• 10/22 (M). BLAST & Alignments (Chapter 3. pages 93-100)
• 10/25 (TH). Genetic distances & Sequence-evolutionary models (Chapter 3, pages 79-88)
• 10/29 (Mon). No class (instructor traveling)
• 11/1 (M). Maximum parsimony (Chapter 5, pages 191-194).
• 11/5 (TH). Distance methods (Chapter 5, pages 184-187). In class exercise #6; In-class computer exercise:
• 11/8 (M). Likelihood & Bayesian methods; Tree Testing (Chapter 5, pages 194-198). Lecture slides posted:
  File:Part-3-tree-construction-posted.pdf
• 11/12 (TH). Review (Chapter 5, pages 207-209). Lecture slides posted in the last session
• 11/15 (M). Midterm Exam 3

Part 4. Population Genetics (Chapter 2)

• 11/19 (TH). Mechanism of molecular evolution: Overview (pages 35-38); SNP statistics
• 11/26 (M). Ka/Ks test of natural selection (pg 116-124)
• 11/29 (TH). Neutral Theory & Molecular Clock (pages 58-59; 72-74)
• 12/3 (M). Genetic Drift (pages 47-49). Computer exercises of Assignment #10 (below) will be done in class.
• 12/6 (TH) Rates of nucleotide substitutions (pages 111-125). Part 4 slides:
  File:Part-4-evol-mechanisms-2017.pdf
• 12/11 (M). (Last Lecture) Review & Course evaluations. Review slides:
  File:Final-review-2017.pdf
  . Submit your Teacher's Evaluation, using either:
  • Personal computer at www.hunter.cuny.edu/te; or,
  • Smartphone at www.hunter.cuny.edu/mobilete
• 12/17 (Monday, 4-6pm) Comprehensive Final Exam