MB437 & MB537, Molecular Evolution, Fall 2009

Course Information

Fall 2009
Cooley B2 Lab
by Marcie McClure, Ph.D.
Phone: 994-7370
Office: 101D Lewis Hall
Email: marsmcclure@gmail.com
Server: shiva.msu.montana.edu 

Syllabus [Download]

Lecture Schedule:

NOTE: The PowerPoint presentations for each lecture will be posted here prior to class.

• Lecture 1
• Lecture 2
• Lecture 3
• Lecture 4
• Lecture 5
• Lecture 6
• Lecture 7
• Lecture 8
• Lecture 9
• Lecture 10
• Lecture 11 - Discussion
• Lecture 11 ppt
• Lecture 12 ppt
• Lecture 13 ppt
• Lecture 14 ppt
• Lecture 15 ppt
• Lecture 16 ppt
• Lecture 17 ppt
• Lecture 18 ppt
• Lecture 19 ppt
• Lecture 20 ppt
• Lecture 21 ppt
• Lecure 22 ptt

Text and Literature for MB 437/537 Fall 2009

Required Reading:

Fundamentals of Molecular Evolution by Graur and Li

• Chapter 8 for Lecture 11
• Chapter 1 and 3 for Lectures 13 and 14
• Chapter 4, pages 99-123, 132-141, 146-160 for Lecture 14
• Chapter 5, pages 165-217 (remainder of chapter if desired) for Lectures 16-19

Recommended Reading:

The following texts and literature provide background for the first 3-4 weeks of lecture:
The literature below is available for download as pdf files. They are not required reading, but are provided for your information and delight. Those with an asterisk are particularly recommended. Additional literature will be added as lectures are updated.

Texts:

• The Cosmic Perspective by Bennett, Donahue, Schneider, and Voit
• Origins of Life: The Central Concepts by Deamer and Fleischaker
• Papers:
• RNA Folding Argues Against a Hot-Start Origin of Life *
• The First Living Systems: a Bioenergetic Perspective
• Peptide nucleic acids rather than RNA may have been the first genetic molecule
• Relics from the RNA World
• Comparative genomics and evolution of proteins involved in RNA metabolism
• The Path from the RNA World
• Methyl-RNA: an evolutionary bridge between RNA and DNA?
• Ring of Life *
• Minimal Gene Set *
• Genomic tree of Life with Horizontal Gene transfer *
• Archaeal Genomics: An Overview
• LUCA of Archaeon *
• Neomuran Origin Of Archaebacteria
• Phagotrophic Origin Of Eukaryotes
• Uprooting Tree of Life *
• Difficulties in Rooting the Tree of Life *
• Transfer RNA Paralogs
• Ancient Horizontal Gene Transfer *
• Phylogeny for Mitochondria
• Complexity in early Eukaryotic ecosystems
• Ecology of Micro Eukaryotes
• Common Origin of Four Diverse Families of Large Eukaryotic DNA Viruses
• A Hypothesis for DNA Viruses as the Origin of Eukaryotic Replication Proteins
• Evolution of Viral Structure

• Can Viruses Make Us Human? *