02 The Toolbox: How to Study Evolution

Terminology you should know

similarity . relationship . metamorphosis . homology . criterion of location . criterion of specific quality . criterion of continuity . convergence . synapomorphy . similarity matrix . Principal Component Analysis . discrete and distance based algorithms . Maximum Parsimony . Neighbour Joining . bootstrap . outgroup . DNA Barcoding . Taxon Gap .  microsatellites

Concepts you should know, be able to explain, and remember

  • You can give examples for metamorphosis and explain the link to homology
  • You can explain and name homology criteria with examples and apply them to a given case
  • You can explain and name homology criteria with examples and apply them to a given case
  • You can decide, when to use a discrete and when a distance-based algorithm
  • You know, how to root a phylogenetic tree
  • You can explain, which type of marker is suited for which type of question

To think about

  1. Can you use the 16S rRNA marker to do molecular phylogeny of plants?
  2. Can you mix sequence data with morphological traits for doing a phylogenetic tree? If so, how?
  3. Can you use Maximum Parsimony to analyse microsatellite data?
  4. How can you root a tree for a given taxonomic group? Make a suggestion using the Rosaceae as examples.
  5. Our colleagues at the CVUA Freiburg use meanwhile DNA barcoding to detect illegal meat imports. They insert the sequences into BLAST and often get e-values that are similar for different candidate species (e.g. 96% kangoroo, 96% oppossum in case of illegal meat imports). Can you give them some advice?
 

 

To read and deepen