BIOL 111 Lecture Notes - Zygosity, Heterozygote Advantage, Sexual Selection
Document Summary
Further examples of natural selection as a driving force for evolution. Point mutation (only one nucleotide has changed) drives evolution of a pathogen. Resistance to anti malaria drugs fansidar of plasmodium falciparum in s. e. Asia is due to a point mutation (single nucleotide changes in dna sequence of a gene that change he amino acid sequence of the corresponding protein product). Both human hosts and plasmodium parasite require folic acid, an essential vitamin. While we must obtain folic acid from food, plasmodium can synthesize its own folic acid. Effective anti malaria drugs target enzymes in plasmodium responsible for synthesizing folic acid. Genes cannot be created in response to environmental changes: i do not know the answer. Hawaii is a perfect place to illustrate the concept of adaptive radiation: It is the most remote archipelago (a series of islands) on earth, making it very hard for any terrestrial organisms from anywhere in the world to get to;
