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Mutations Lead to Genetic Variation -mutations are changes in the genetic material (DNA) of an organism -mutations are the starting point of genetic variation in populations -they provide new alleles in a species and are the only source of new genetic variation -can occur spontaneously when the DNA is copied (in S phase) before mitosis -when there is a mutation in DNA, the cell may exhibit new characteristicsthe cell could die, malfunction, or even multiply more than it should, forming a tumor -not all mutations are harmful, they can even be beneficial or not affect the organism at all -some mutations do not have any effect on a cell -if the mutation occurs in the somatic cell, it will not be passed on to offspring and disappears from the population once the organism dies -only when the mutation alters the DNA in a gamete, the mutation may be passed on to future generations as a new allele Mutations Can Provide a Selective Advantage -mutations that were once not helpful, or even a disadvantage, may become advantageous in a changing environment -a selective advantage is a genetic advantage that improves an organisms change of survival in a changing environment -for example, the water flea Daphina lives in waters around 20C and cannot survive in waters above 27C or warmer. A mutation enabled some populations of the Daphina to survive in waters from 25C-30C, which allowed them to reproduce when water temperatures are high Rapid Reproduction and Selective Advantage -in populations that reproduce quickly, a new allele resulting from a mutation may provide to be a selective advantage to some individuals when the environment changes -in time, the genet that provided the selective advantage can become a prevalent characteristic in the population -in some cases, can be the means of the survival of the whole population -an example of this concept is with the Staphylococcus aureus bacterium, a common bacterium that can have minor or major effects on human health, which reproduce very rapidlyunder the right conditions, they can reproduce every 30 minutes. With such rapid reproduction, adaptation occurs very quickly, the bacteria are able to adapt to the changing environment on the infected individuals to survive and reproduce longer. This leads to problems in treating the infection since the adaptation of the bacteria to the environment may make them resistant to certain antibiotics -over time, the populations change, not the individuals
Natural Selection is Situational -fitness is the relative contribution an individual makes to the next generation by producing offspring that will survive long enough to reproduce -a high degree of fitness means that an organism will survive and reproduce, passing on its advantageous genes too its offspring -an organism with many viable offspring has high fitness, whereas an organism that has few or no offspring has low fitness Artificial Selection -selective breeding is a form of artificial selectiona selective pressure exerted by humans on populations in order to improve or modify particular desirable traits -is a type of biotechnologythe use of technology and organisms to produce useful products -has a large impact on human survival -most foods that humans consume come from species that have been selectively bred -for example, artificial selection has resulted in cows that can produce more milk -some animals are selectively bred for appearance (eg. cats, dogs, etc.) -difference between natural selection and artificial selection is that in natural selection, the environmental conditions determine which populations will survive, whereas in artificial selection, humans play a role in selecting which populations are more desired -will affect the gene pools of individuals of the future populations since the genes from the surviving individuals are passed on to their offspring Artificial Selection and Food Crops -humans breed food crops to increase their nutritional value and harvest yield; also to be drought or pest resistant -downside to artificial selection is that if plants are bred to grow too quickly, they may not be able to tolerate the poor soil conditions -artificial selection must be balanced to maintain genetic variation within crops and the ability of the plants to respond to environmental change Consequences of Artificial Selection -can have both positive and negative consequences -for example, English bulldogs are bred for different traits, most commonly for their flat faces. This results in severe respiratory problems -some techniques for artificial breeding, such as genetic engineering, are used to introduce new genetic information into domesticated organisms -plants are specialized through selective breeding to produce the qualities that growers want, so plants that can been selectively bred lack genetic diversity -monoculture is extensive plantings of the same varieties of a species over large expanses of land -easier for farmers to maintain since there is only one kind of plant growing in a large field -there is also risk since the organisms are so familiar, if a new disease infests the crop, the whole population of the plants could be killed or severely damaged Gene Banks -contains populations of early ancestors of modern plants -seeds have been preserved so their genetic information for introduction into modern plants if the need arises