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Blaustein
Institutes for Desert
Research Albert Katz International School for Desert Studies Institute
for Dryland Environmental Research |
Mitrani
Department of Desert Ecology |
Paul Goldstein and Lillian Goldstein Lande
Scientific Exchange Fund |
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Camp Evolution IV
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Last
updated April 8, 2008
Sede-Boqer
Campus, April 13-17, 2008
Organizer: Ariel
Novoplansky
BEWARE! The number of participants is
limited. Registration deadline: March 15, 2008
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Previous workshops: |
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The
workshop will feature a lecture series by Alexey
Kondrashov, Life Sciences Institute,
Unsolved Problems in
Evolutionary Biology
as well as presentations by other participants.
·
Prologue
I – how do we know that modern life is a product of past evolution?
Indirect and direct evidence of past evolution.
Suboptimality, homology, unforced hierarchy, patterns in spatial distribution
of life, scenario- and theory-based evidence. What can we learn about evolution
from past history of life?
·
Prologue
II – are there any
unsolved problems in phylogenetic reconstructions?
Reconstructing constant rate evolution.
Reconstructing exclusively divergent evolution. Detecting variations in rates
of evolution. Detecting homoplasy. Are there any inherently homoplasy-free
traits? What phylogenetic problems will remain unresolved five years from now?
·
Unsolved
problem I: the roles of negative and positive selection
Review of theory of natural selection. Classification
of modes of selection. Action of selection in the simplest case – Fisher's
Fundamental Theorem and dynamics of allele replacement. Methods of detecting
negative, positive, and balancing selection. Data on negative and positive
selection. Within-population variation and macroevolution.
·
Unsolved
problem II: the nature of fitness landscapes
Spaces of genotypes and of phenotypes. Simple models
of fitness landscapes. Types of epistasis: narrowing, widening, sign, multidimensional.
Epistasis at different scales. Data on fitness landscapes. Genotype-phenotype
maps. What are real phenotypic targets of natural selection?
·
Unsolved
problem III: is evolution mutation-limited or selection-limited?
Evidence for mutation-limited evolution: frequencies
of replacements of different kinds, gene
duplications, domestication of transposable elements. Evidence for
selection-driven evolution: stasis, episodes of rapid evolution. Can the answer
be different at different levels of organisation? Gillespie-Orr's model of
adaptation. Any positive role for counteradaptive changes? Predictability of
evolution.
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Unsolved
problem IV: evolution of sex.
Review of sex in nature. Immediate benefit vs.
variation and selection. 2x2 classification of possible advantages of sex.
Long-term and short-term effects. Degeneration of non-recombining chromosomes.
Environmental explanations and their difficulties. Mutational explanations and
their difficulties. Data on mutation rates and epistasis. Problems with
facultative sex and crossing-over.
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Unsolved
problem V: how can new species evolve?
Similarity, relatedness, connectedness,
compatibility. Dobzhansky-Muller incompatibility. Phyletic speciation. Orr's
snowball. Haldane's rule. Data on incompatibilities between species.
Coevolution and the role of positive selection. Data on sympatric speciation.
Disruptive selection and incompatibility selection.
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Unsolved
problem VI: How can altruism evolve?
Individual selection and group selection. Kin
selection. Inclusive fitness. Evolutinarily stable strategies. Direct, indirect
and network reciprocity. Cooperation, Prisoner's dilemma. Altruistic
punishment. Eusociality. Multicellularity and coloniality.
·
Unsolved
problem VII: How can we study the evolution of complex phenotypes?
Generalizations vs. theories. Complexity,
designability, modularity, robustness. Are there any general laws that govern
fitness landscapes of complex phenotypes? Models and experiments on the
evolution of molecules. Models of the evolution of cells and of multicellular
organisms.
·
Unsolved
problem VIII: How did life appear?
What is life? What do we know – time interval,
conditions, prebiotic organic synthesis, LUCA. How probable is the origin of life?
Replicators and reproducers. Hypercycle. RNA world, primitive cells, or both?
Experimental data.
The workshop's language will be English.
Getting to Midreshet Ben-Gurion and the
- Reaching Beer-Sheva
from Tel-Aviv is best done by trains. Timetable
of trains. From
- To Midreshet
Ben-Gurion take Metropolin bus #60 from Beer-Sheva's Egged Central bus
station. Timetable of Metropolin
busses.
- Please use this
map to get to the Albert Katz International School for Desert Studies.
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Sun, April 13 |
Mon, April 14 |
Tues, April 15 |
Wed, April 16 |
Thurs, April 17 |
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08:00
– 08:20 |
Arrival and check-in |
Breakfast |
Breakfast |
Breakfast |
Breakfast |
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08:30
– 10:15 |
Alex
Kondrashov Negative and positive selection |
Alex Kondrashov Mutation and selection limits to
evolution |
Alex Kondrashov Speciation |
Alex Kondrashov Complex phenotypes |
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10:15
– 10:45 |
Coffee break |
Coffee break |
Coffee break |
Coffee break |
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10:45
– 12:30 |
Alex Kondashov Adaptive landscapes |
Alex Kondashov Evolution of sex |
Alex Kondashov Altruism |
Alex Kondashov Emergence of life |
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12:30
– 13:30 |
Lunch |
Lunch |
Lunch |
Lunch |
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14:00
– 18:00 |
Alex Kondrashov Prologue I |
Excursion: GEV YAMIN |
Excursion: NACHAL ZAROR |
Excursion: AVDAT RUINS and RAMALIA CISTERNS |
Checkout |
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Coffee break |
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Alex Kondashov: Prologue II |
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19:00
– 20:00 |
Dinner |
Dinner |
Dinner |
Dinner Party |
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20:30
– 21:30 |
Michal Segoli |
Nadav Kashtan Evolution
in varying environments: rapid emergence of modular systems |
Ofir Cohen |
Eyal Privman Selection
constraints on selfish homing endonucleases facilitate their use in gene
therapy |
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21:30
- ?? |
Social |
Social |
Social |
Social |