Evolutionary Biology

Teaching unit: Introduction and general principles of evolution
Darwinian evolutionism, definition and importance of the theory proposed by Darwin. The mechanisms of evolution and the forces at the base of the evolutionary changes of species: mutation, natural and sexual selection, genetic drift, migration. Relevance of sexual selection in the evolution of species, the weight of historical, physical, morphogenetic and genetic constraints. The importance of random genetic drift. Evolution of phenotypic traits. The origin of species and modes of speciation. Principles of molecular evolution and phylogenetics, examples of phylogenetic tree reconstruction.

Teaching unit: Models and problems in evolutionary biology
This teaching unit will present main problems in evolutionary biology, starting with an introduction to the historical context in which Charles Darwin developed his theory and with a discussion of the philosophical implication of Darwinism (teleology; the metaphor of the clock and natural theology; the Darwinian algorithm). The unit will then present a series of central issues in evolutionary biology: the eclipse of Darwinism and the Synthetic Theory of Evolution; developments in evolutionary theory following the Synthetic Theory (the neutral theory of molecular evolution; punctuated equilibria); symbiosis and intergenomic conflicts; Wolbachia as a manipulator of reproduction and as a mutualistic symbiont; hierarchies and targets of natural selection; altruism, selfishness, social behavior; origin of life and origin of the eukaryotic cell.