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BIOS 23258 1 (Winter 2018) Molecular Evolution I: Fundamentals and Principles
The comparative analysis of DNA sequences has become an important tool in not only in evolutionary biology but molecular, cell and developmental biology and genetics. This course covers major theories that form the foundation for understanding evolutionary forces that govern molecular variation, divergence and genome organization. Particular attention is given to selectively neutral models of variation and evolution, and to alternative models of natural selection. The course provides practical information on accessing genome databases, searching for homologous sequences, aligning DNA and protein sequences, calculating sequence divergence, producing sequence phylogenies, estimating evolutionary parameters, and investigating natural selection.