This lesson introduces students to the concepts of evolution, specifically the evolution of humans. So often our students assume that humans are well adapted to our environments because we are in control of our evolutionary destiny. The goal is to change these types of misconceptions and get our students to link the concepts learned in their DNA, protein synthesis, and genetics units to their understanding of evolution. Students will also discover that humans are still evolving and learn about the traits that are more recent adaptations to our environment. The lesson is designed to take two one-hour class periods to complete. The activities will allow students to draw connections between environmental pressures and selected traits, both through data analysis and modeling. Most activities can be done without any special materials, although the Modeling Natural Selection activity needs either a tri-colored pasta, or tricolored beans, to be completed effectively.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"A fundamental law of genetics states that offspring do not inherit traits from their parents that were acquired in response to environmental conditions. Recent research in the field of epigenetics, however, is turning this principle on its head. Several recent studies have come to the remarkable conclusion that unhealthy diets in males can contribute to the development of metabolic diseases in their offspring. Even when those offspring are raised with healthy diets_._ Now, a study has identified small RNAs as the molecules responsible for the transmission of these disorders. For a long time scientists thought that inheritance of traits only occurred via DNA being passed from parent to offspring. It is now clear, however, that the experiences of one generation can have an effect on the next. When parents have a high-stress lifestyle or an unhealthy diet, for example, chemical modifications can occur on genes that are then passed to their children. This is termed ‘epigenetic inheritance..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Of the 20 standard amino acids, 18 can be coded by two to six synonymous codons. The preference for certain synonymous codons over others is a phenomenon known as “codon usage bias,” and it's been found in all genomes examined to date. Growing evidence suggests that codon usage regulates protein structure and gene expression through translation-dependent and translation-independent mechanisms. In fact, codon usage has been discovered to play an important role in controlling the speed of translation elongation during mRNA translation, as well as in regulating protein folding and function in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Additionally, studies show that intrinsically disordered domain structures are sensitive to codon usage. These disordered structures play a critical role in many biological processes and are sites for important post-translational modifications..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.

This resource is a video abstract of a research paper created by Research Square on behalf of its authors. It provides a synopsis that's easy to understand, and can be used to introduce the topics it covers to students, researchers, and the general public. The video's transcript is also provided in full, with a portion provided below for preview:

"Advancements in next-generation sequencing have opened the door to detailed analyses of the human microbiome. This technique has many applications, and pancreatic cancer research is one of them. Pancreatic cancer is a devastating disease with an estimated 5-year survival rate of only 11%. Most cases, over 80%, are not found until the cancer is too advanced to successfully treat, but pancreatic cancer patients show shifts in their oral microbiome, which could be detected years earlier than current methods allow. Pathogenic oral bacteria have also been found within pancreatic tumors, which is another potential link between them. However, these findings barely scratch the surface of how the oral microbiome relates to pancreatic cancer. The oral microbiome is influenced by a combination of host-related and environmental factors, which include genetics, race, ethnicity, smoking, socioeconomics, and age..."

The rest of the transcript, along with a link to the research itself, is available on the resource itself.