1. Charles Darwin in the 21st Century
John Brookfield,
Institute of Genetics
School of Biology
University of Nottingham

2. Charles Darwin and Evolution by Natural Selection
Variation
Competition
Inheritance

3. On the Origin of Species…

4. The Missing Component of “The Origin of Species”- Genetics and DNA
1866: Mendel identifies genes determining characteristics of peas
: Morgan shows chromosomes contain the genetic material
1944: Avery shows DNA to be the genetic material
1953: Watson and Crick discover the structure of DNA

5. 1953 Watson and Crick Nature
A double-helix of:
Backbones made of
sugar and phosphate
Organic bases connecting
the strands
A pairs with T
C pairs with G
Changes in sequence-
Mutations
(Watson J.D. and Crick F.H.C.
A Structure for Deoxyribose
Nucleic Acid Nature
171, (1953))

6. 6 Billion Base Pairs in 23 Pairs of Human Chromosomes

7. Darwin and Genetics: What happens to a mutation?
Makes organism fitter- may spread by natural selection or
Makes organism less fit-eliminated by natural selection
Makes no difference to fitness, may spread, or be lost by chance

8. DNA Sequencing Fred Sanger
Nucleotide sequence of bacteriophage phi X174 DNA. Nature 265: (1977)
5375 base pairs of sequence read!!

9. The Human Genome Project 2003
2 billion dollars for 3 billion base pairs -67cents per base pair
25,000 genes – less than anyone expected
Corn has 32,000 genes

10. The Thousand Genomes Project
50 million dollars for human genomes
1000 base pairs read for every cent spent
Thousands of animal and plant species to follow

11. Human Origins Genus Homo evolved in Africa 2.5 million years ago
Homo erectus spread throughout Asia, Europe 1.8 million years ago. Modern man (Homo sapiens) evolved in Africa 200,000 years ago
Spread throughout the world, replacing other forms of man

12. Neanderthals

13. Neanderthals DNA from 30,000-50,000 year-old subfossils
Quite distinct from modern humans

14. The Case of the Siberian Finger Bone (Krause et al
The Case of the Siberian Finger Bone (Krause et al.(2010)Nature 464: 894)

15. Evolution and Health
HIV-1 and the
Chimpanzees of
Cameroon

16. Science 313: (2006)
Chimpanzee Reservoirs of Pandemic and Nonpandemic HIV-1
Brandon F. Keele, Fran Van Heuverswyn, Yingying Li, Elizabeth Bailes, Jun Takehisa, Mario L. Santiago, Frederic Bibollet-Ruche, Yalu Chen, Louise V. Wain, Florian Liegeois, Severin Loul, Eitel Mpoudi Ngole, Yanga Bienvenue, Eric Delaporte, John F. Y. Brookfield, Paul M. Sharp, George M. Shaw, Martine Peeters, Beatrice H. Hahn