Inhalt

[ 675ARSPMOE13 ] Module Molecular Ecology

Versionsauswahl
Workload Mode of examination Education level Study areas Responsible person Coordinating university
6 ECTS Accumulative module examination B3 - Bachelor's programme 3. year (*)Bioinformatik Vaclav Hypsa USB Budweis
Detailed information
Original study plan Bachelor's programme Bioinformatics 2015W
Objectives The course provides students with basic information on the role of ecological and evolutionary processes in shaping the molecular characteristics of organisms (e.g. genetic structure of the populations or genome modifications) and the main methods of solving ecological problems using molecular data.
Subject
  • Introduction to Molecular Ecology: questions and problems studied by Molecular Ecology. Population structure, speciation, reproductive strategies (inbreeding, sex ratio), demography (population expansion, bottlenecks).
  • Molecular markers and methods used in their analysis. Characterization, availability and informative value of various types of molecular markers (DNA sequences, nuclear vs. mitochondrial/plastid DNA, coding vs. non-coding DNA, microsatellites, AFLP, SNP). Analytic procedures vs. simulations (MCMC).
  • Introduction to population and evolutionary genetics. Intraspecific genetic and phenotypic variability, Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium, neutral theory, genetic drift, molecular clock. Measures of genetic variability within and among populations, metapopulations.
  • Genealogy vs. phylogeny. Population splitting and genetic diversification, coalescent theory, ancestral polymorphism, concerted evolution, hybridization.
  • Demographic history. Effective population size, expansions, bottlenecks, migration. Kin selection. Reproductive strategies: sex ratio, mating system, inbreeding, social and brood parasites.
  • Speciation, phylogeography, coevolution. Speciation process, delimitation of species, geographic distribution and methods of phylogeographic analysis. Genetic diversity mediated by geographic distance, nested clade analysis. Coevolution.
  • Genome scan. Identification of loci under balancing/diversifying selection. Quantitative trait loci. Ecology-mediated changes in genomes (degeneration, horizontal transfer of genes).
  • Applied aspects of molecular ecology: Study of biodiversity, barcoding, molecular ecology and conservation biology, molecular microbiology and epidemiology.
  • New methods and programs in molecular ecology.
Subordinated subjects, modules and lectures