Number of participants limited to 24. Waiting list will be deleted after 05.03.2021.
Courses
Number
Title
Hours
Lecturers
701-1480-00 S
Evolutionary Developmental Biology
The course will initially start online. Further details can be found on Moodlehttps://moodle-app2.let.ethz.ch/course/view.php?id=14776 and have been sent by e-mail. The room reservation remains in place if face-to-face teaching is possible after the Easter break.
Students will be introduced to fundamental concepts and current open questions in the field of evolutionary developmental biology (Evo-Devo) primarily through reading, analysing and jointly discussing key literature.
Objective
The course aims to expose students to major conceptual themes of the Evo-Devo field through discussion of key papers and to active areas of current Evo-Devo research. At the end of the course, students should be able to present, think critically about and discuss key Evo-Devo concepts.
Content
Evolutionary developmental biology (Evo-Devo) is a multidisciplinary field that studies the interplay between developmental and evolutionary processes. Major questions include: How do developmental systems evolve and diversify? Do developmental programs influence their own future evolution, and how? How does ecology affect the evolution of developmental programs, and vice versa? Fascinating and experimentally challenging, Evo-Devo first empirically emerged from comparative embryology. However, in recent decades this discipline has grown considerably to interconnect with many other fields, from genetics to sociobiology to microbiology. The course will examine questions such as those above and touch on the ongoing inter-disciplinary integration of Evo-Devo, including its interface with ecology (“Eco-Evo-Devo”) and the integration of aggregative microbial developmental systems into the field.
Literature
Relevant literature:
Müller, G. (2007). Evo–devo: extending the evolutionary synthesis. Nature Reviews Genetics 8, 943-949. Link
Abouheif, E., et al (2014). Eco-evo-devo: the time has come. Advances in experimental medicine and biology 781, 107-25. Link
Moczek, A et al (2015). The significance and scope of evolutionary developmental biology: a vision for the 21st century. Evolution & development 17, 198-219. Link
Gilbert, S. (2019). Evolutionary transitions revisited: Holobiont evo‐devo. Journal of Experimental Zoology Part B: Molecular and Developmental Evolution 12, 117762501877479 - 8. Link
Prerequisites / Notice
Significant basic knowledge in especially evolutionary biology and developmental biology, and also cell biology and genetics, will be advantageous for readily understanding the course material.
Performance assessment
Performance assessment information (valid until the course unit is held again)