BIOL 422Advanced Genetics

3 credits · Biology · Penn State

Now is an exciting time for evolutionary, quantitative, and disease genetics. Increasingly sophisticated technologies are making it possible to obtain dense genomic data from large numbers of individuals from a variety of taxa. Such data permits the evaluation of processes that have generated genetic variation, providing a rich resource to make inferences about natural selection and population history that have affected the current distribution of genetic diversity. In addition, when correlated with phenotypic traits, such data enables researchers to identify genomic regions underlying trait variation which is of particular importance for identifying genes involved in disease. By the end of the course, students will be able to understand how the genome is organized, learn how to find and assay genetic variation across the genome, and will know how such variation is inherited. They will learn how pedigree analysis, linkage mapping, and autozygosity mapping can be used to identify loci underlying Mendelian traits, and will be exposed to a number of examples from human disease. The students will also learn about the neutral and adaptive processes that shape genetic diversity within and across species, and will understand the basics of sequence alignment, phylogenetic reconstruction, and testing for natural selection from within and between species data. Moreover, students will acquire the fundamentals of quantitative genetics, will understand the essentials of polygenic adaptation, and will learn how to use genome-wide association studies to identify loci underlying complex traits. Finally, students will become familiar with recent advances in individual identification from genetic data, and its relationship to privacy.