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Genetic Drift
Change in allele frequencies of a population resulting from sampling error in drawing gametes from the gene pool to make zygotes and from chance variation in the survival and/or reproductive success of individuals, results in nonadaptive evolution.
Genetic Variation
Differences among individuals in a population that are due to differences in genotype.
Environmental Variation
Differences among individuals in a population that are due to differences in the environments they have experienced.
Genotype-by-Environment Interaction
Differences in the effect of the environment on the phenotype displayed by different genotypes. Ex: people living in the same area that have different skin colors in seasons than others.
Genome
An organism's complete set of genetic information.
Alleles
Variant forms of a gene, or variant nucleotide sequences at a particular locus.
Genotype
The combination of alleles an individual carries at one or more loci of interest.
Phenotype
The set of traits an individual exhibits.
Epigenetic Marks
Chemical modifications of DNA, managed by enzymes encoded in the genome, that can influence phenotype by altering gene expression.
Phenotype Plasticity
Variation, under environmental influence, in the phenotype associated with a genotype.
Mutations
Modifications to DNA that occur by chance.
Gene Duplication
When a piece of a chromosome is duplicated due to unequal crossing over and replication errors. Can involve just one or multiple genes.
Crossing Over
The exchange of genetic material between homologous chromosomes that results in recombinant chromosomes during sexual reproduction.
Paralogous
Duplicated genes found in the same genome; describes the relationship among members of the same gene family. Type of genetic homology.
Orthologous
Genes that diverged after a speciation event; describes the relationship among homologous genes found in different species.
Polymorphism
The existence within a population of more than one variant for a phenotypic trait, or of more than one allele.
Heterozygosity
That fraction of the individuals in a population that are heterozygotes.
Cline
A systematic change along a geographic transect in the frequency of a genotype or phenotype.
Microsatellite
Many tandemly repeated nucleotides or genes.
Minisatellite
Any of numerous DNA segments located mainly near the ends of chromosomes that consist of repeating sequences of at least five but usually not more than 100 nucleotides and that are useful in DNA fingerprinting.
PCR
A laboratory technique used to make multiple copies of a segment of DNA. Compare microsatellite fragment sizes resulting from the amplification.
DNA Fingerprinting
The analysis of DNA from samples of body tissues or fluids in order to identify individuals.
Reaction Norm
The pattern of phenotypes an individual may develop upon exposure to different environments.
Point Mutation
The substitution of one base for another.
Silent (synonomous) Substitution
A mutation that leaves the encoded protein unaltered.
Replacement (nonsynonomous) Mutation
A mutation that changes the amino specified by a codon.
Nonsense Mutation
A mutation that introduces a premature stop codon.
(Genetic) Linkage
The tendency for alleles at different loci on a chromosome to be inherited together.
Population
For sexual species: a group of interbreeding individuals and their offspring. For asexual species: a group of individuals living in the same area.
Metapopulation
A group of populations that are separated by space but consist of the same species.
Gene Pool
The set of all copies of all alleles in a population that could potentially be contributed by the members of one generation to the members of the next generation.
Heterozygote
An individual having two different alleles of a particular gene or genes, and so giving rise to varying offspring.
Homozygote
An individual having two identical alleles of a particular gene or genes and so breeding true for the corresponding characteristic.
Heterozygote Advantage (Overdominance)
Desribes a situation in which heterozygotes at a particular locus tend to have higher fitness than homozygotes.
Underdominance
Describes a situation in which homozygotes tend to have higher fitness than heterozygotes.
Frequency-Dependent Selection
Occurs when an individual's fitness depends on the frequency of its phenotype in the population; typically occurs when a phenotype has higher fitness when it is rare and lower fitness when it is common.
Mutation-Selection Balance
Describes an equilibrium in the frequency of an allele that occurs because new copies of the allele are created by mutation at exactly the same rate that old copies of the allele are eliminated by natural selection.
Fixation
The elimination from a population of all the alleles at a locus but one. The one remaining allele is now at a frequency of 1.
Migration / Gene Flow
The movement of alleles from one population to another, typically via the movement of individuals or via the transport of gametes by wind, water, or pollinators.
Sampling Error
A chance difference between the frequency of a trait in a subset of individuals from a population versus the frequency of the trait in the entire population. Larger for smaller samples.
Founder Effect
A change in allele frequencies that occurs after a founder event, due to genetic drift in the form of sampling error in drawing founders from the source population.
Positive Selection
Selection in favor of advantageous mutations.
Negative (purifying) Selection
Selection against deleterious mutations.
Population Bottleneck
A large-scale but short-term reduction in population size followed by an increase in population size.
Hitchhiking/Selective Sweep
Change in the frequency of an allele due to positive selection on a closely linked locus.
Inbreeding
Mating among kin.
Inbreeding Depression
Reduced fitness in individuals or populations resulting from kin matings; often due to the decrease in heterozygosity associated with kin matings, either because heterozygotes are superior or because homozygotes for deleterious alleles become more common.
Identical by State
If an allele within a single individual or many individuals that has the same nucleotide sequence.
Identical by Descent
Describes alleles, within a single individual or different individuals, that have been inherited from the same ancestral copy of the allele.
Homozygous
Having two alleles identical by state.
Autozygous
Having two alleles identical by descent.
Zygotic Gene Flow
Movement of an organism from one population to another.

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