Genetics and Human Variation
CUNY ANTH 79000
Tues. 11:45-1:45
GC, Room 6496

Recommended textbook:
Joblin, Hurles, Tyler-Smith. 2004. Human Evolutionary Genetics: Origins, Peoples & Disease. Garland Press.
Numerous additional readings will be distributed in class.

Grading:
Midterm (3/17) - 40%
Final - (take home, due 5/15 by midnight) 40%
Assignments - 20%. Assignments include one page long reading reports of all assigned papers (textbook chapters do not require reading reports). In addition, problem sets will be distributed in class.


date topic readingsguest speaker
1. 1/27 Introduction, DNA
YouTube videos:
the central dogma
Histones, chromatin, DNA packing; replication
DNA replication; leading and lagging strands
Transcription
mRNA processing
Splicing
Translation

More:
Transcription
inside the cell
protein and their function (optional)

cell division:
mitosis
meiosis, crossing over
mitosis in a real cell
Ch. 2
Veraksa et al. 2000
Orphanides1 and Reinberg 2002
2. 2/3 Genetics/heredity Ch. 3
3. 2/10 Genetics ctd., intro to population genetics
Problem set 1
Ch. 4
Templeton 2006: ch 2
4. 2/17 Population Genetics, Hardy-Weinberg, assortative mating Ch. 5
Templeton 2006: ch 2 and ch 3
5. 2/24 Selection
Problem set 2
SELECTION HANDOUT
MICRO 30 - microevolution simulation program by John Relethford
Ch. 6
Harris and Meyer 2006;
Fay and Wu 2000;
Woolf 2005
Friedman 1978
6. 3/3 Genetic Drift
Problem set 3
ANSWERS
Ch. 6
King and Jukes 1969
Sewall Wright 1932
Steiper
7. 3/10 Gene flow/mutations
Prescott Deininger 2006
Kehrer-Sawatzki and Cooper 2007
Templeton: ch. 6
8. 3/17 some helpful reading for Midterm:
Genetic Drift
Fixation Index
ANSWERS to PS3
Midterm

List of formulas
9. 3/24 Molecular systematics Ch. 6, Sec. 6.4-6.7;
Holder and Lewis 2003
Disotell
3/31 AAPA - no class
10. 4/7
11.
start at 10:00 AM
Molecular primatology
Modern human origins, ancient DNA

Problem set 4
cox2.phy--download to answer Q4
Ch. 7
DiFiore 2003; Vigilant 2009;
Ch. 8, 9
Manica et al. 2007; Mellars 2006
Hodgson and Disotell
Raaum

Disotell
4/14 CUNY recess
12. 4/21 Human adaptations, growth Ch 13
Read first:
Beall CM, Steegmann AT (2000) Human adaptation to climate: temperature, ultraviolet radiation, and altitude. In S. Stinson, B. Bogin, R. Huss-Ashmore, and D. O'Rourke (eds.), Human Biology: An Evolutionary and Biocultural Approach. pp. 163-224.

Beall 2007
Brutsaert 2008
Jablonski and Chaplin 2000
Steegmann 2007
Stinson
13. 4/28 Human diseases Ch 14, Gage 2005,
Barrett et al. 1998,
Wilbur et al. 2008
14. 5/5 Human nutrition Write reading reports based on: 
Sherman and Billing 1999
Stinson 1992
Kaplan et al. 2000
Milton 1999
Read and enjoy (no reading report):
Aiello and Wheeler 1995
Dudley 2004
Wrangham et al. 1999
Rothman
15. 5/12 Review/Final