-LESSON 1: GENETICS, EVOLUTION AND ORIGIN OF BIODIVERSITY 

Objectives:

                In the end of Module 1, you will be able to:

                1. Outline the processes involved in genetic engineering.

                2. Compare classical breeding with modern genetic engineering techniques.

                3. Enumerate the steps in molecular cloning.

                4. Evaluate the benefits and risks of using GMOs.

                5. Describe general features of the history of life on Earth, including generally

accepted dates and sequence of the geologic time scale and characteristics of major groups of
organisms present during these time periods.

                6. Describe how natural selection led to evolution.

                7. Explain the mechanisms that produce change in populations from generation to
generation.

                8. Show patterns of descent with modification from common ancestors to produce the
organismal diversity observed today.

                9. Trace the development of evolutionary thought.

                10. Explain evidences of evolution.

Forum/Open Discussion
For this forum, you can post your answers based on your own formulated ideas. This is not rated, but
it would be best to have an open discussion with you and among yourselves about the topic.

NOTE: Only post answers related to the topic.

Does Biology provide solutions to problems in the society. In what particular way?

Biology provides solutions to problems in the society by observing, posing questions, generating
hypotheses, and performing experiments which enables biologists to provide or give a conclusion or
solution to a problem in the society. This also gives us a way to progress or broaden our knowledge
about the life around us.

In my understanding or opinion, I do believe that biology provides solution to problems in the

society. By observing, raising questions, formulating hypotheses, and conducting experiments,
biologists are able to produce or give a conclusion or solution to a problem in the society. This allows
us to advance or widen our understanding of life world around us.

Genetic Engineering
Genetic Engineering 

In order to survive, man has successfully domesticated selected plants and animals. He has taken an
active part in choosing desired traits of plants and animals. Traits that were considered valuable (i.e.,
high fruit yield; high milk production, etc.) were sought out and propagated. The processes involved
may include classical breeding practices such as controlled pollination of plants, and the mating of
animals with desired traits.

In today’s modern science, molecular biology techniques are being employed in the insertion and
expression of proteins in different organisms for various purposes.

The process of using plants and animals with specific traits to reproduce offsprings with those
traits is known as selective breeding, something that has been practiced since the early times.

Hybridization, or the process of crossing plants or animals with different variations of the same trait
in which the resulting offspring is created to have the best traits of the parents, has been around for
many years as well. However, these processes require a long period before results could be seen and
usually succeed only within a close family of species. In the early 1970s, biologists have realized that
they can manipulate and deliberately recombine the DNA molecules from different species in the
laboratory. The technique, genetic engineering, allows genes from one organism to be transferred
into the DNA of another organism. More and more variations of the technique allow scientists to
produce more complex solutions to problems in society.

The term “biotechnology” came from the words, biology and technology. It was coined in the 1970s
when the first genetically engineered bacteria were reported. Since then, biotechnology has often
been associated with genetic engineering, specifically in the development of genetically engineered
microorganisms.

Recombinant DNA Technology 

                Changes in the DNA of an organism can cause changes in traits and its manipulation has
led to genetically modified organisms (GMOs). With the advancement of our knowledge about the
DNA, geneticists have developed ways to produce organisms with desired traits.

Recombinant DNA technology is a technique of combining two DNA sequences from different

sources. Bacteria, yeasts, and cultured plant and animal cells are usually used for recombinant DNA
experiments.

Molecular cloning is done by inserting the desired DNA fragment (gene) into a vector, usually either
from a virus or a bacterial plasmid DNA. A plasmid is a circular DNA that contains about 3500 base
pairs that can replicate independently inside the body of a bacterium.

Special enzymes are also used to cut DNA molecules in specific regions and paste these fragments
together to insert the new DNA into foreign cells. To cut DNA molecules, special molecular scissors
are used by genetic engineers, which are actually proteins called restriction enzymes. The cutting
must be done in such a way that the DNA fragments will have a sticky end that later on can be joined
to another complementary sticky end. In nature, any two DNA molecules with complementary sticky
ends can join together even when they are unrelated to the rest of the DNA molecules. This is the
reason why sticky ends on pieces of DNA fragments from other organisms as different as humans,
pigs, and bacteria can be recombined to form a unique organism called a transgenic organism.
Genetic engineers also add the enzyme DNA ligase, which acts as a glue to cause strong bonds that
form between two opposing ends.
Genetically Modified Plants 

                In recent years, the knowledge of genetic engineering particularly in manipulating genes
and moving them from one organism to another has paved a way for great advances in medicine and
agriculture. Scientists explored ways of genetic modification and introduction of foreign genes to
give desirable characteristics of food crops. Through genetic engineering, humans have produced
plants that are resistant to insecticides and to drought; fruits and vegetables with improved taste,
texture, size, and color; and grains with improved protein contents.

Genetically Modified Food Consumption and Its Potential Risk

Is eating genetically modified food dangerous?

As of today, the risk associated with consuming GM foods seems to be very minimal. The concerns
on the consumption of GM crops can be summarized into following issues.

-          It can pose potential harm to other organisms.

-          Eliciting resistance

-          Disrupting (or affecting) gene flow

Genetically Modified Animals

                Techniques to modify plants by introducing foreign genes have also been explored in
animal cells. Techniques involving the introduction of genes into the eggs of animals have allowed
the production of animals with larger sizes, such as fishes, cows, pigs, rabbits, and sheep.

Transgenic Animals for Manufacturing a Product

A technique known as gene pharming makes use of transgenic animals to produce pharmaceutical

products for therapeutic and diagnostic purposes. Several diseases are being studied to find cure for
cystic fibrosis, cancer, and blood diseases using this treatment.

Cloning Transgenic Animals for Various Purposes

                Long before the biotechnology era, it was believed that it is impossible to clone an adult
vertebrate because cloning would require that all genes of an adult cell be turned on so that normal
development could proceed. In 1997, Scottish scientists have cloned the first sheep, Dolly.

Since then, several animals have been cloned for different purposes. However, animal cloning is a
difficult process with a low success rate and most clones dying early.

                Despite the low success rate, genetic engineers are using bioengineered animals for various
research projects to avoid experimenting on existing animals in the wild.

                Another genetic engineering application explored is xenotransplantation which is the use

of animal organs instead of human organs in transplant patients.

History of Life on Earth

History of Life on Earth

                Life emerged about 3.8 billion years ago with prokaryotic organisms, while multicellular
organisms evolved only in the last 540 million years. Forests (385 million years ago) and land plants
(475 million years ago) have followed, populating the planet. Mammals have only evolved until 200
million years ago, whereas, Homo Sapiens first appeared 200,000 years ago, which makes us only
0.004 percent old in Earth’s life history. Because it would be difficult to map Earth’s life long history
in our existing calendar that has months, years, or centuries, geologists have devised another scale to
show Earth’s history. They call Earth’s record of the appearance of life-forms and geological events
as geologic time scale.

Eons

                1. Hadean – is the oldest eon.

                2. Archean – still not much clear among geologists due to the few fossils or mineral
evidence that could support it.

                3. Proterozoic – is characterized by the presence of oxygen in the atmosphere due to

presence of cyanobacteria.
                4. Phanerozoic – spans the past 541 million years up to the present.

Eras

                1. Precambrian – covering about 88 percent of Earth’s life history.

                2. Paleozoic – (paleo means “ancient, zoic means “life”) lasted for 300 million years.
Many of the organisms that have emerged during this period were invertebrates or animals without
backbones.

                3. Mesozoic – (meso means “middle”) lasted 180 million years and is known for being the
age of the dinosaurs.

                4. Cenozoic – (ceno means “latest”) began 65 million years ago until present.

Periods and Epochs

                1. Triassic

                2. Jurassic

                3. Cretaceous

Evolution Is a Unifying Theme in the Study of Life 

                The great diversity of life on Earth, as you know today, is the result of evolution, a
continuous process that persists up to this very day and will go on as long as there are organisms out
there trying to survive.

                You probably first heard about the simple definition of evolution as descent with
modification. Descent here implies inheritance whereas modification refers to changing of traits from
generation to generation. Evolution refers to the cumulative genetic change in a population of
organisms over time. Biologists believed that evolution occurs within the population when some of
the traits become more common or less common from one generation of population to the next.

Changes in Evolutionary Thought Over Time 

Pre-Darwinian Theories

350 BCE – Aristotle – Individuals in a species are basically identical and can be arranged
hierarchically, and species remain the same.

AD 1749 – Comte de Buffon – Species change and they migrate from their original location to a
new environment, explaining their distribution.

1794 – Erasmus Darwin – Life evolved from one common ancestor, which branched off into all
species we know today.

1809 – Jean Baptiste Lamarck – New species evolve from existing species through environmental
forces acting on them. Traits could be pass on to the next generation.

Lamarck believed in two mechanisms:

-          That the physical desire of an animal determines how the body will develop into something,

-          That the changes in organ size caused by its use or disuse can be inherited by offsprings.
Disuse of a certain body part may weaken the organ and could lead to its disappearance. This
particular hypothesis by Lamarck was then called by scientists as the theory of acquired
characteristics.

1830 – Charles Lyell – All changes in nature are uniform and gradual.

1859 – Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace – Individuals in population have variation,

species evolve through the process of natural selection.

                Darwin was later on appointed as the ship’s naturalist for the five-year journey of
the HMS Beagle to map the coastline of South America.
                A trip to the Galapagos Island, a volcanic island near Ecuador that is filled with unique
sets of plants and animals, impressed Darwin and allowed him to explore the variability in the
appearances of a single species.

                Darwin attracted attention when he published the following year his monumental and well-
documented manuscript, titled On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.

                Darwin laid out some important factual basis from his observations that drew far-reaching
conclusions that still stand until today:

                1. Individual members within a population of species are varied and some of these
variations could be inherited by future generations.

                2. Members of the population have the capacity to produce more offsprings than the
environment could provide, such as food, shelter, or space.

The Evidence for Evolution 

Paleontology Supports Evolution

                Fossil Evidence has supported Darwin’s findings as follows:

                1. Different organisms thrived and lived at different periods

                2. Organisms of the past were different from the living ones today

                3. Fossils embedded in adjacent rock layers are more similar in appearance to each other
than fossils from distant layers

                4. Intermediate forms of organisms are found in between rocks, which revealed transitional
species.

Biogeography and Continental Drift Theory Support Evolution

                Continental Drift has affected the distribution of species, particularly in those that have
become isolated from bigger continents, such as in Australia. The presence of unique animals, such
as kangaroos, koalas, and kiwis which are found only in Australia, is a manifestation that isolation
happened through the movement of continents.

Comparative Anatomy Supports Evolution

                The fossil evidence excavated by paleontologists supported the hypothesis that varied
forelimbs of vertebrates ascended from the forelegs of a common ancestor. One possible explanation
could come from a five-fingered amphibian that became modified over time by natural selection to
facilitate the demands of survival tasks during that period. Thus, organs that have different functions
but have similarities in structures are called homologous structures.
If somehow your wisdom tooth becomes impacted and the appendix becomes infected, removing
them have no detrimental effect because of it has no apparent issue for survival. These rudimentary
parts are called vestigial structures. Over time, natural selection has facilitated the removal of genes
responsible for the formation of these structures that may not be useful to the organism. 

Developmental Embryology Supports Evolution

                Different kinds of embryos share basic primitive features that reveal their common
ancestor, such as the presence of gill slits and pouches and tail.

Molecular Biology Supports Evolution

                Based on multiple extensive studies conducted by molecular biologists in different parts of
the world, the conclusion that humans and chimps having 95 percent or >98.5 percent DNA
similarities depend on which nucleotides are counted and excluded. Regardless of the percentage
difference, there is no doubt on how close our evolutionary relationship to chimp is.

Patterns of Natural Selection 

Overpopulation - The number of offspring is usually greater than the available resources necessary
for organisms to survive. Organisms can die from many causes: disease, starvation, or being eaten by
predators. The environment cannot support every organism that is born. Many dies before they are
able to reproduce.

Struggle for existence - Every organism must struggle to survive. Organisms struggle to survive
because they must compete for the limited resources available in the environment. Organisms then
struggle for food, territory, and other necessities for life, including getting away from predators and
overcoming disease. Competition may be active, as in the battle between two predatory animals over
a single prey, or passive as in two wild flowers in a bed of grass competing for sunlight, water, and
space.

Presence of Variation - There is variation within species. There are physical variations or
differences among members of a species. Not all of its members are exactly the same. Aside from
physical differences, there are also diversity in skill and behavior. If organisms were all the same,
none would be better suited than any other, and selection cannot occur.

Survival of the Fittest - Some variations allow members of a species to survive and reproduce better
than others. If an organism has a trait that helps it survive or reproduce, it is more likely to survive
and be able to reproduce.

Variations can be transmitted - Organisms that survive and reproduce pass their traits to other
offspring, and the helpful traits gradually appear in growing populations. Organisms with traits that
are well suited to the environment survive, reproduce, and successfully pass on their traits to the next
generation of offspring. These variations enable them to “fit” into their environment, and those who
lack these variations are eliminated. If more of the organisms with helpful traits survive, then in the
following generations, more and more of the population will have that trait.

How Evolution Works 

1. Microevolution – pertains to the minor differences in the genetic level between populations of the
same species providing evidence for diversity within individuals.

2. Macroevolution – are the big changes that can happen in allele frequencies among population.

Patterns of Evolution Above the Species Level 

1. Divergent Evolution – occurs when closely related species divert to new habitats, often as a result
of diverging lifestyle, ultimately producing distinct species.

2. Convergent Evolution – groups of distantly related lineages tend to evolve similar structures as
adaptations to a similar habitat or way of life.

3. Extinction – is the total disappearance of all the members of a certain species from the planet.

4. Adaptive Radiation – occurs when ancestral species invades a new territory with no known
competitors, allowing them to exploit the resources of the said environment and occupy a specific
niche.

5. Coevolution – is another type of evolution usually observed in predatory-prey relationships as

well as those species with very close interspecific interactions such as in mutualism and competition.

ACTIVITY

1. Make two (2) essays on both topics. Limit your compositions to at least 300 words.

  a. How does genetic engineering provide solutions to problems in the society?

As technology advances, humans created different ways to make our lives easier and better.
One of these advances is genetic engineering. Genetic engineering is the process of altering an
organism's genetic makeup using recombinant DNA (rDNA) technology. Traditionally, people
manipulate genes indirectly by controlling breeding and selecting offspring with desired traits.
Genetic engineering, on the other hand, involves the direct manipulation of one or more genes.

Genetic engineering has made huge impact by providing solutions to problems in the society.
By experimenting or manipulating one or more genes to create a new DNA, scientists are able to find
solutions to issues in the society. One of these is the production of sustainable agriculture. Genetic
engineering contributes to sustainable agriculture by making it more sustainable through reducing
pesticide use, agricultural pollution and increasing agricultural productivity. Treatment for genetic
disorders and cancer has also been made possible with the help of genetic engineering. The
expression in microbial cells of genes from pathogens that encode surface antigens capable of
generating neutralizing antibodies in the pathogen's host has also proved beneficial in the
development of vaccines and other medications in plants, due to genetic engineering. Genetic
engineering has also paved the way of creating genetically modified animals which increased the
resistance of animals to acquire a disease, enhancing yield, etc. Though the process of genetically
engineering mammals is a slow, tedious, and expensive, it is still worth it.

In conclusion, genetic engineering has made an impact on how we live our lives today. It has
provided solutions to problems in our society. Genetic engineering has made our lives easier and
more convenient. It has helped us enhance sustainable agriculture, treat genetic diseases and cancer,
create genetically modified animals, etc. Genetic engineering may have it’s pros and cons but as
technology advances, genetic engineering also improves and provide more or improve solutions to
problems in the society.
 b. Own interpretation of Darwin’s statement: “It is not the strongest of the species that
survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”

Charles Robert Darwin was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, best known for his
contributions to the science of evolution. His proposition was that all species of life have descended
from common ancestors is now widely accepted and considered a fundamental concept in science. 

Before living creatures could even exist on Earth, scientists believe that organisms evolve
over time and adapt to their environment. Animals evolve to make the most of the food sources that
are available in their natural environment. In fact, natural selection can cause a species to change in
shape, size, intellect, and habit to make it better able to hunt or forage for food in that environment.
Humans have also adapted to successfully obtain food from a wide range of environments, and
humans have developed farming and animal husbandry to grow food as needed. Other animals are
specially adapted to eat only one type of food.

In my own interpretation of Darwin’s statement, I think what he meant about the phrase “but
the one most responsive to change” is that the organism that easily adapts to their own environment
is the only one that will surely survive.

We may think that the strongest or the smartest creatures are the ones that will surely survive.
But, the truth is that the creature that quickly adapts or creatures that respond faster than others are
the ones who are mostly likely to survive. Being strong and intelligent can be a factor to survive but
being strong and intelligent are useless if you don’t adapt to your environment. We must remember
that environments change over time, and whatever traits an organism has must be flexible enough to
live and breed in that changing environment. 

In conclusion to my interpretation, adaptation to the environment is important. If an organism

can’t adapt to the changes of their environment, they are most likely not going to survive no matter
how strong or intelligent they are. Being strong or intelligent can be a factor of survival but are
useless if they can’t adapt to change.

EXERCISE 

1. Rank the following in terms of what should be given more importance in the production of
genetically modified plants. Then explain your ranking.

                Rank them 1,2,3. With 1 as the most important and so on.

_____1____Plants with Pest Resistance

_____2____Plants with More Nutritional Values

_____3____ Plants with more yield

In my opinion, plants with pest resistance should be prioritized or given more importance because the
lesser pests there are, the healthier the plants are. If the plants are healthier, it gives more nutritional
values to our body. Plants with more yield is not that important because you can just plant or grow
more to have more produce.