CARTA Glossary

Displaying 1 - 31 of 31 defined words for "Ancient DNA and Human Evolution". To see all CARTA defined words, please view the complete glossary.

Word	Definition	Related Vocabulary
Adaptation	Evolution of a phenotype by selection because it improved reproduction and/or survival.
Alignment	Arranging related sequences by position.
Allele	Alternative DNA sequence at the same locus (location on the chromosome)	DNA sequence
Archaic admixture	DNA from ancient, divergent, and now extinct populations found in current people.
Atapuerca	An archaeological site in Spain with fossils and stone tools of the earliest known hominins in Western Europe.
Chromatin	A complex of DNA and proteins (histone and adaptor proteins) forming chromosomes.	Protein
Cloning	Making a copy of an organism or sequence. Organisms are cloned by moving an entire genome from a cell into an egg. DNA sequences are cloned by moving copies into a bacteria using a vector.
Coalescence	Time since common ancestor.	Coalescent Theory
Coalescent Theory	Models evolution backward in time to infer historical population size, mutation rate, allele age, and allele frequency change by selection and drift.	Coalescence
Coverage	The number of reads for a given locus.	Sequencing
CRISPR	Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats. A method that can mutate a specified locus.
Demography	Study of population size over time.
Dental Calculus	Calcified dental plaque, provides information on diet, disease, health, microbiome and protects the genetic information within the tooth from degradation.
Divergence	Change in genetic content or phenotype between isolated populations or species.
Effective Population Size (Ne)	The size of an idealized population (random mating, no selection, mutation or migration) with the same rate of genetic drift as the study population.
Genetic Drift	Change in allele frequencies, including fixation and loss, by chance.	Allele
Genome Wide Association Study (GWAS)	An approach for “gene mapping” in which hundreds of thousands of SNPs are tested statistically for genetic associations with a phenotype.
Genotyping	Characterizing genetic variants at one or more loci.
Heterozygotes	Have two different alleles at a locus.	Allele
Homology	Similarity in DNA or phenotype because of shared evolutionary history from a common ancestor.
Homoplasy	Similarity in DNA sequence or phenotype that has evolved independently.
Indel	An insertion or deletion of a DNA sequence.	DNA sequence
Polymerase chain reaction (PCR)	A method of copying a specified locus.
Sequencing	Reading the order of nucleotides in DNA.	Coverage, Shotgun
Shotgun	Sequencing cuts the genome into short chunks that are read and reassembled by a computer.	Sequencing
Silent Mutations	No change to the phenotype.
Species	A population whose individuals can mate with one another to produce viable and fertile offspring. This is a debated definition and the concept is problematic for extinct fossil organisms for which DNA is not available. This definition is problematic in regard to bacteria as they can exchange genetic material across widely separate taxa.	Bacteria
Synonymous/Non-synonymous Mutations	No change to the protein; changes to protein, respectively.
Transcription	The first step in gene expression during which the nucleotide sequence of DNA is transcribed into an RNA molecule that can ultimately be translated into protein.	Gene expression, Molecule, Nucleotide, Protein, Ribonucleic acid (RNA)
Transposable elements (TE)	DNA sequence that can change its position within a genome, sometimes creating or reversing mutations and altering the cell’s genetic identity and genome size. They can also be referred to as “jumping genes”. They were discovered by Barbara McClintock and she earned the Nobel Prize in 1983 for that discovery. These sequences can be considered a type of “molecular parasite” within the genome.
Vector	DNA molecule used to direct the replication of a cloned DNA fragment (“insert”) in a host cell.