CHICAGOLAND PHARMACEUTICAL DISCUSSION GROUP
Affiliated with the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists

Large-scale sequence analysis will lead to an estimation of the influence of positive Darwinian selection on the genomes of human and other model organisms. Three types of data will be discussed. These are:

1. Divergence data - The basic procedure records fast evolution above the neutral rate. Known examples will be discussed and, interestingly, the majority of them turn out to be related to male reproduction. The evolution of an accessory gland protein gene (Tsaur, et al. 1998) and the Ods speciation gene (Ting, et al. 1998) in Drosophila will be highlighted. A new analysis of the influence of sexual selection on human genome will be given (Wyckoff, et al. 2000).
2. Polymorphism data - A theoretical study (Fay and Wu, submitted) will be presented which shows that a distinctive signature of hitchhiking is a bipartite frequency spectrum. Reduction of variation in regions of low recombination sometimes shows this pattern, thus supporting the view of selective sweep over that of background selection.
3. Contrasting divergence with polymorphism - Using published sequence data in human and Drosophila, the genetic load in human as well as the occurrences of positive selection in our evolutionary past has been estimated.

Dr. Wu is currently Professor and Chairman of the Department of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Chicago. Prior to joining the University of Chicago in July 1991, he was an associate professor at the University of Rochester. Dr. Wu received his BS degree in Biology from Tunghai University in Taiwan in 1976, and his PhD in Population Genetics from University of British Columbia, in 1982. Dr. Wu has been an Associate Editor for Molecular Phylogenetics & Evolution and for Genetics. His research interest is in the areas of the genetics of race and species formation, population genetics and genomics and the evolution of complex traits. He was a recipient of a Research Career Development Award from NIH, has authored more than 70 publications for Genetics, Nature, Science, PNAS and related journals, has been a frequent speaker on evolutionary genomics nationally and internationally and has organized several symposia and workshops in national and international conferences.

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Deadline for registration: 4:00 p.m., Friday, February 9, 2001
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UPCOMING EVENT: CPDG Symposium entitled "Delivery of Biologics in the New Millennium", March 2nd, at Chicago College of Pharmacy - Midwestern University, Details to be sent by mail.

DIRECTIONS TO THE FEBRUARY 15, 2001, CPDG MEETING AT THE 94TH AERO SQUADRON RESTAURANT
1070 S. MILWAUKEE AVE., WHEELING, IL

• EXIT I-294 AT WILLOW RD.
• WEST 0.4 MILES TO MILWAUKEE AVE RAMP
• NORTH 0.1 MILES ON MILWAUKEE TO 94TH AERO SQUADRON RESTAURANT
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