ANTHROPOLOGY 295:

MODERN HUMANS AND THEIR GENES:

Biological Variation in Homo sapiens sapiens

Grinnell College - Fall 2001

Course Description:

            This course is designed to provide an overview of the types of biological variation seen in a single primate species, Homo sapiens sapiens (i.e., anatomically modern humans).  In essence, the course emphasizes the factors and processes studied by biological anthropologists contributing to biological variation in living and recent humans from an evolutionary perspective.  The first part of the course will start with a short review of human evolutionary history (the fossil record) and then cover basic principles and knowledge of molecular (structure of DNA, RNA, etc.) and Mendelian genetics.  The second part deals with evolutionary processes and explains how the important forces of mutation, gene flow, genetic drift, and natural selection work as well as examining some hypotheses regarding aspects of biological variation in modern human groups.  This part of the course will draw on many well-known examples from the anthropological genetics literature dealing with genetic based diseases, disorders, and anomalies.  The last part of the course addresses issues related to genetic variation across human populations found within specific continents and how this variation may relate to ethnicities, cultures, and languages especially with regard to the movement of peoples.

Course Requirements:

Required Textbooks:  S. Molnar. (1998) Human Variation: Races, Types, and Ethnic Groups, 4th Edition.  Prentice Hall Publishers.

            L. L. Cavalli-Sforza, P. Menozzi, and A. Piazza. (1994).  The History and Geography of Human Genes.  Princeton University Press.

            D. Hartl. (2000)  A Primer of Population Genetics, 3^rd Edition.  Sinauer Associates Inc.

Readings:  The reading assignments for each topic are indicated on the Course Outline.  The readings will not be announced in class, so you will need to keep up with the text.

Homework:  Five problem sets will be assigned during the semester.  Each exercise is worth 30 points (150 points total).  These exercises are meant to reemphasize the principles or concepts that we are discussing in the lectures.  One of the exercises will require you to extract information from the Human Genome Project Website (e.g., www.nhgri.nih.gov).  The other four exercises will be placed on the class web-site for your convenience after they are assigned.  Each assignment is meant to show you some component of anthropological genetics for either humans or non-human primates.

**Each student will be allowed one extension during the semester for any given homework assignment.

Exams:  There will be three in-class exams during the semester, one on each of the three major sections.  Exam III will have a comprehensive component but that will not be the major focus.  Exams are primarily objective in format.  These exams will have the standard format with some multiple choice, matching, true and false, short identification style questions and several problems from your homework exercises.  Each exam is worth 100 points.

            No make-up exams will be given unless prior arrangements have been made with the instructor.  If for any reason, a make-up exam is given, it will consist of essay and short answer style questions.

Course Outline

Exam I --- 2 Oct. (??)

23-25 Oct.                               FALL BREAK                                                     

Exam II --- 20 Nov.

22 Nov.    Thanksgiving Break   

Exam III --- 18 Dec. (Tuesday)  2pm