Origin and Evolution of Life — BIOLOGY STD 12 Science — Question

(1) Modern synthetic theory of evolution is the result of modification of Darwinism and theory of mutations by taking into consideration studies of genetics, ecology, anatomy, geography and palaeontology.

(2) Five key factors of modern synthetic theory are gene mutations, mutations in the chromosome structure and number, genetic recombinations, natural selection and reproductive isolation. All these finally contribute in the evolution of new species or process of speciation.

(3) Population or Mendelian population is the small group of ‘interbreeding populations’. For every Mendelian population there is a gene pool which is constituted by total number of genotypes in it. The genotype of an organism in a population is constant, but the gene pool constantly undergoes change due to different factors such as mutations, recombination, gene flow, genetic drift, etc.

(4) Every gene has two alleles. The proportion of a particular allele in the gene pool, to the total number of alleles at a given locus, is called gene frequency. Thus any change in the gene frequency in the gene pool affects population.

(5) The five main factors are broadly divided into three main concepts as follows:
(i) Genetic variations caused due to various aspects of mutation, recombination and migration. Such variations cause change in the gene frequency. Gene mutations or point mutation change the phenotype of the organism, leading to variation. Recombination is caused due to crossing over in which new genetic combinations are produced. Sexual reproduction due to fertilization of gametes also cause recombinations. All these lead to variations, Gene flow is movement of genes into or out of the population, either due to migrations or dispersal of gametes.

Gene flow therefore change the gene frequencies of the population. Genetic drift is a random change which occurs by pure chance. It occurs in small populations but change the gene frequency. Chromosomal aberrations are structural or morphological changes in the chromosomes causing rearrangement of the sequence of genes.

(ii) Natural selection is said to be the main driving force in evolution. It brings about evolutionary changes by selecting favourable gene combinations by differential reproduction of genes. This brings about changes in gene frequency from one generation to next generation.

(iii) Isolation means the separation of the population of a particular species into smaller units which prevents interbreeding between them. This over a long time period leads to speciation or formation of new species.