SUMMARY OF ACTIVITIES FOR WEEK 7 EXPERIMENT ASSIGNMENT

26 Jun SUMMARY OF ACTIVITIES FOR WEEK 7 EXPERIMENT ASSIGNMENT

Question
WEEK 7 EXPERIMENT ANSWER SHEET
Please submit to the Week 7 Experiment dropbox no later than Sunday midnight.

SUMMARY OF ACTIVITIES FOR WEEK 7 EXPERIMENT ASSIGNMENT

Experiment 7 Exercise 1 – Evolutionary Change without Natural Selection
Experiment 7 Exercise 2 – Evolutionary Change with Natural Selection
Experiment 7 Exercise 3 – Evolution and Genetic Drift
Before starting, be sure you have read over the information in the Week 7 Experiment Introduction.

Materials Needed

For the first two exercises you will need the following:

50 red M&Ms and 50 green M&Ms or 50 each of two items that are distinguishable by color but are similar in size and texture (e.g., dimes and pennies, two different color beads).
Four containers large enough to hold the above items.
Experiment 7 Exercise 1: Evolutionary Change without Natural Selection

In this first exercise, we are going to look for evidence of evolutionary change in a population in the absence of natural selection by looking at the change in allele frequencies over time in a simulated population. We will start with a population of 50 individuals in which there are two alternate alleles (H and h) in equal proportions (each at a frequency of 0.5 or 50%). Individuals have the possible genotypes: HH, Hhor hh. These two alleles do not offer any selective advantage, so neither is selected for or against, meaning they are neutral. We will record the frequency of these alleles over 10 generations. Prior to advancing on to the next generation, six alleles (= three individuals) will be removed at random.

Before you begin, answer the following:

Question

What is your prediction as to what will happen to the frequencies (note that this is different than the number) of these two alleles over 10 generations? Word your prediction as an “if-then” statement based on the experiment design. (1 pts).

Procedure:

Let 50 M&M’s of one color (i.e. red) represent the dominant allele (H) and 50 M&M’s of another color (i.e. green) represent the recessive allele (h).
Let one container represent the Habitat where random mating occurs. Place all of the M&Ms (or other items) into this container. This is your starting gene pool of your “parent” population or Generation 0.
Label the other three containersHHfor homozygous dominant individuals, Hh for heterozygous individuals and hh for the homozygous recessive individuals. Notice that individuals have two alleles.
Mix up your Habitat well and without looking, select two items (alleles) at a time; these two alleles represent a single individual. On a piece of paper, keep track of the genotypes of the individuals withdrawn. For instance, if you draw one red and one green M&M, that counts towards “Number ofHhindividuals.” If you draw two red M&Ms, that counts towards “Number ofHHindividuals” and so on.
Continue drawing pairs and recording the results until all items (alleles) have been withdrawn and sorted. Be sure to place the “offspring” into the appropriate dish:HH, Hh, or hh. Note that the total number of individuals will be half the total number of items because each individual requires two alleles, so you will have 50 offspring (but 100 alleles). Record the number of HH, Hhand hh individuals drawn for Generation 1 in Table 1 below.
Next count (or calculate) the total number of H and the total number of h alleles for the first generation and record the number in Table 1 below in the columns labeled “Number of H Alleles” and “Number of h Alleles.”
Add up the total number ofHalleles andhalleles for the first generation and record this number in the column labeled “Total Number of Alleles.” If you did everything correct, you should still have 50 H alleles and 50 h alleles.This has already been entered for you in the Table below for Generation 1.
Combine the HH, Hhand hh individuals back into the Habitat container and mix well. Randomly remove three pairs of alleles (= three individuals, six items) and set them aside.
Repeat steps D through H to obtain Generations 2 through 10. Remember to randomly remove threepairs of alleles each time.Because I know that each generation will have six fewer alleles, I have also entered the total number of alleles in the Table below. Be sure that is the number your alleles add up to!
Here is a photograph of this process after six generations. The sixth generation has been distributed into the HH, Hh and hh containers. Note that dimes and pennies have been used.

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After entering your number of individuals and allele counts for each generation, you now need to determine the allele frequencyofHandhfor each generation and record them the Table below. To determine allele frequency take:
# ofH/Total alleles in the generation = Allele frequency ofH(express as a decimal)
# ofh/Total alleles in the generation =Allelefrequency ofh
Note that the total number of alleles will change each generation, but the frequency the H allele plus the frequency of the h allele should add up to 1.0 for each generation.

Table 1. Results evolutionary change without natural selection (2 pts).

Generation

Number of HH individuals

Number of Hh individuals

Number of hh individuals

Number of H alleles

Number of h alleles

Total Number of alleles

Allele Frequency of H

Allele Frequency of h

1

50

50

100

0.5

0.5

2

94

3

88

4

82

5

76

6

70

7

64

8

58

9

52

10

46

Generate a line graph of Allele frequency vs Generation. This means you need to graph the last two columns of your data in the Table above. Paste your graph below. Be sure to label your axes (3 pts).
Questions

Describe what your graph above depicts with respect to the frequency of the two different alleles across generations(2 pts).

Was your prediction correct? Why or why not (1 pts)?

Define evolution. Are the results of this simulation an example of evolution? Explain your answer. Cite any sources used (4 pts).
Experiment 7 Exercise 2: Evolution Change with Natural Selection

In this second exercise, we will determine the effect that natural selection has on the frequency of two alleles which start off in equal proportions (50:50) in the population. This time, individuals who are hh die, meaning the homozygous recessive allele combination is lethal. These individuals will be removed from the gene pool when they are drawn and will not contribute to the following generation. This means that the h allele is being selected against. Keep in mind that carriers of this lethal allele (e.g., those individuals that are Hh) are unaffected because the h allele is recessive.

Question

1. What is your prediction as to what will happen to the frequencies of these two alleles over 10 generations? Word your prediction as an “if-then” statement based on the experimental design. (1 pts).

Procedure:

A. Return ALL alleles to the Habitat container and ensure that it contains 50 H alleles and 50 h alleles. This is our Generation 0.

B. Use the other three containers labeledHHfor homozygous dominant individuals, Hh for heterozygous individuals and hh for the homozygous recessive individuals.

C. Mix up your Habitat container well and without looking, select two alleles at a time; these two represent a single individual. On a piece of paper, keep track of the type of individual withdrawn (HH, Hh or hh).

D. Continue drawing pairs and recording the results until all alleles have been withdrawn and sorted. Be sure to place the “offspring” into the appropriate dish:HH, Hh, or hh. Record the number of HH, Hh and hh individuals drawn for Generation 1 in Table 2 below.

E. Next count (or calculate) the total number of H and h alleles for the first generation and record the number in the Table below.

F. Add up the number ofHalleles andhalleles for the first generation and record this number in the column labeled “Total Number of Alleles.” If you did everything correct, you should still have 50 H alleles and 50 h alleles.This has already been entered for you in the Table below for Generation 1.You will need to enter this information for Generations 2-10, as it will change.

G. Now it is time for natural selection. Remove all of the h alleles from the container labeled hh and discard them. These individuals have died and cannot reproduce.

H. Return the alleles of the remaining HH and Hhindividuals back to the Habitat container.

I. Repeat steps D through H to obtain Generations 2 through 10. Remember that each time, all hh individuals die and are removed after you have counted them.

J. After entering your number of individuals and allele counts for each generation, you now need to determine the allele frequency ofHandhfor each generation and record them in Table 2below.

Table 2. Results from evolutionary change with natural selection (2 pts).

Generation

Number of HH individuals

Number of Hh individuals

Number of hh individuals

Number of H alleles

Number of h alleles

Total Number of alleles

Allele Frequency of H

Allele Frequency of h

1

50

50

100

0.5

0.5

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10