Anthropology › Section D · Evolution, primates, and early hominins › Topic D.3
Genes as the foundation of evolution
Natural selection needs variation that parents can pass to their children, and Darwin never knew how that inheritance worked. Genetics supplied the answer, and it gives anthropologists the tools to explain human variation, from blood groups to resistance to malaria.
In this topic
- The missing piece in Darwin's theory
- Cells, DNA and chromosomes
- Mitosis and meiosis
- Genes, alleles, genotype and phenotype
- Mendel's rules
- A human example: ABO blood groups
- Worked example: predicting blood types
- Most traits are polygenic
- From individuals to populations
- Worked example: sickle-cell and malaria
- Common mistakes to avoid
- Key takeaways
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