BIOL 2704 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Homo Erectus, Synonymous Substitution, Genetic Drift
Document Summary
Biology & data: several nations are conducting projects to sequence 100,000 citizen genomes, sequencing of individual cells/tissues (tumors) means that the number of whole genome. In 2025, human genome sequences are projected to range between 500 million and 2 billion sequences for humans could easily exceed the population size. Evolution & genomes: mutations alone don"t cause significant evolution, needs a driver natural selection or genetic drift, however, each genomic change started as a mutation, how mutation happens affects how differences accumulate between species. How do mutations occur: mutation a change in the genomic sequence (dna or rna, we usually care about germline mutations those that get passed to offspring, somatic mutations matter for cancer & aging. In humans it is estimated that there are about 20-30 genome replications between the fertilized egg and the female gametes and about ten times that for males, with large variation depending on age.
