Zurich-Basel Plant Science Center
PhD Program in Plant Sciences: Concepts in Evolutionary Biology
Lecturer: Prof. Kentaro Shimizu, Prof. Wolf Blanckenhorn, Prof. Lukas Keller, Prof. Barbara
König, Dr. Michael Krützen, Dr. Anna Lindholm, Dr. Erik Postma, Dr. Kathleen Sprouffske,
Prof. Barbara Tschirren, Prof. Andreas Wagner, Prof. Marcelo Sanchez
Location: University of Zurich, Irchel Campus (Y42-K-80 (AIM))
Dates: March 8 to 9, 2016
Credit Points: 1 ECTS
Course Objectives
Concepts in evolutionary biology are often used ambiguously, partly because the same terms
may have different usage in other fields in biology. The course is designed for graduate
students with interdisciplinary projects encompassing evolutionary biology and other
disciplines, and provides lectures and simple calculation exercises in population and
quantitative genetics. The topics will represent relevant chapters of Herron and Freeman
"Evolutionary Analysis" (5th eds.)
Tuesday, 8th March 2015
09:00
Shimizu
09:30
11:00
Tschirren
Sprouffske
12:00
13:00
14:00
Sprouffske
Keller
16:00
Krutzen
17:30
end
Introduction, highlighting the common interpretation of concepts in
molecular biology (no particular chapter)
Natural selection and plasticity (chapter 3 and more)
Population genetics: HW, selection (including molecular aspects,
chapter 5 and 6)
Lunch break
Continued
Population genetics: migration, drift, inbreeding, linkage
Disequilibrium (chapter 7 and 8)
Population differentiation, FST, exercise on microsatellite data
(chapter 8)
Wednesday, 9th March 2016
09:00
10:00
11:00
12:00
13:00
14:30
15:30
16:30
16:45
Koenig
Postma
Adaptation, proximate vs. ultimate
Quantitative genetics: broad and narrow sense heritability, selection
gradient, additive, dominance, epistasis (chapter 9, etc.)
Lindholm
Quantitative genetics: broad and narrow sense heritability, selection
gradient, additive, dominance, epistasis (chapter 9, etc.)
lunch break
Blanckenhorn Exercise of quantitative genetics, sexual selection,
Directional/stabilizing/disruptive selection (chapter 11 and 9)
Sanchez
Paleontology and development (Chapter 18 and 19)
Shimizu
Scale up to genome: signature of selection and QTL/GWAS,
balancing selection (chapter 15,16 and part of 9)
All Pis
Summary and discussion to highlight the concepts
All URPP members are welcome
URPP apero
Prior Knowledge:
The topics will represent relevant chapters of Herron and Freeman "Evolutionary Analysis"
(5th eds.). You are welcome to use the textbook, but not necessary. The book can be a
recommended reading.
Number of Participants: 25, Open for PhD students and motivated master students. Priority
is given for the PhD students of URPP Evolution in Action and Evolutionary Biology.
Individual Performance and Assessment:
Active participation in the exercise and discussion