Evolutionary Genetics

WS 2015/2016
Mondays and Tuesdays 12:30-14:00 (LMU-BioCenter B01.027)

Prof. Dr. Stephan Hutter
Prof. Dr. John Parsch
Dr. Katharina Böndel (tutorial)

Course Announcement and Outline

Click here to download course announcement (.pdf)
Click here to download course outline (.pdf)

Exam Results

Make-up Exam Results WS 2015/16

Lecture Topics and Summaries (.pdf files)

Note: summaries will be posted each week after the lectures.

Evidence For Evolution Summary

Paleoevolution and the Fossil Record Summary

Natural Selection and Adaptation Summary

Genetic Variation within Species Summary

Hardy-Weinberg Law Summary

Mutation and Natural Selection Summary

Maintenance of Genetic Variation Summary

Genetic Drift Summary

Neutral Theory Summary

Human Evolution Summary

Evolution of Sex Summary

Selection versus Drift Summary

*** Midterm Exam Tuesday, 24.11.2015 ***

Protein Evolution Summary

DNA Evolution Summary

Molecular Phylogenetics Summary

Application of Molecular Phylogenetics Summary

Testing the Neutral Theory Summary Figures

Positive Selection in Humans Summary

Introduction to Genomics Summary

Functional, Comparative, and Evolutionary Genomics Summary

Evolutionary Bioinformatics Summary

Evolutionary Developmental Biology Summary

Speciation and Speciation Genetics Summary

The Molecular Genetics of Speciation Summary

*** Final Exam Tuesday, 02.02.2016 ***

Note: The midterm and final represent two parts of one exam. The cumulative score determines the final grade.
A make-up exam (midterm + final combined) will be offered on March 4, 2016 at 12:30 in room B01.019.
If you want to participate in the make-up exam, you must register with Prof. Parsch (parsch@bio.lmu.de) by Feb. 26, 2016.
You may only participate in the make-up exam if it is permitted by the exam regulations ("Prüfungsordnung") of your academic program.

Tutorial Meetings

There will be 4 tutorial meetings during the semester. Attendance is not mandatory and there are no assignments.
The tutorials are meant to provide a chance for students to ask questions about material covered in the previous lectures and to review for the midterm and final.

Meeting 1: Thursday, October 29, 2015, 14:00-15:00, Biozentrum G00.031 (Katharina Böndel)
Meeting 2: Thursday, November 19, 2015, 14:00-15:00, Biozentrum G00.031 (Katharina Böndel)
Meeting 3: Thursday, December 17, 2015, 14:00-15:00, Biozentrum G00.031 (Katharina Böndel)
Questions from tutorial 3
Meeting 4: Thursday, January 28, 2016, 14:00-15:00, Biozentrum D00.013 (Katharina Böndel)

Additional Readings

Part I (Hutter lectures)
1. The RNA world
2. The major transitions
3. The Hardy-Weinberg principle
4. Selection in diploid organisms
5. The neutral theory
6. Why sex ?
7. Transition to asexuality result in excess amino acid substitutions

Part II (Parsch lectures)
8. The molecular clock
9. Evolution of genes and taxa: a primer
10. Genomics and humanness
11. Dobzhansky-Muller incompatibilities