Key Concepts
1. Evolutionary biologists assemble clues from fossils as well as from structures and informational molecules in modern species to paint portraits of past life. Cladograms are diagrams that group species based on specialized characteristics that only they have inherited from a recent common ancestor.
2. Fossils can reveal the immediate environment of an ancient organism, clues to a scene, or even global change. Fossils form in a variety of ways. The time that a fossilized organism lived can be estimated relatively from its position in rock strata, or more definitively by following the extent of breakdown of one radioactive isotope into another, which reflects passage of time.
3. Comparing bones in various dinosaurs and birds vividly illustrates evolutionary change. Homologous structures are retained from a shared ancestor, whereas analogous structures reflect adaptation to a similar environment. Vestigial organs and similarities among embryos are also evidence of evolution.
4. Molecular evidence for evolution includes similarities at the gene, protein, chromosomal, and genome levels. Gene sequence differences among species can be placed in a time frame derived from mutation rates.
By quantifying the amount of difference in the DNA amino acids they can create a evolutionary tree called a phylogeny, which groups organisms with the least amount of difference together. This is because evolution is though to proceed on the path of least resistance (although not allways).
Example: Suppose we identified the same gene in 4 different animals. and we found out the sequences listed below.
Organism 1: AAGGCGTAA
Organism 2: AAGGCGAAA
Organism 3: ATCGCGGAA
Organism 4: AAGGCGTAA
By examining these 4 organisms we can see that 1 and 2 are the same.
We put them together like this. (the horizontal lines are for formatting please ignore them, the important lines are in bold)
-/\
1--4
We see that Organism 2 is slightly different then 1 and 2 by one letter
so we infer it is only slight less related.
--/\
-/\-\
1-4--2
The 3rd organism is very different and is inferred to have diverged from the other organisms a long time ago. So we draw it as the farthest related like this.
---/\
--/\-\
-/\-\-\
1-4-2--3
Now I have made a phylogeny, and the inferred evolutionary history.
This Wikipedia article below will help iron out the rest of your questions.
The amino acid sequences of a protein are determined by the genes that code for the proteins. By determining the amino acid sequence of homologous proteins in different organisms, such as the ribosome proteins, you can determine what the gene sequence is. The more similar a gene sequence is, the more closely related the organisms are.
The more similarities in amino acid sequences, the closer the relationship.
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In the system of classification called cladistics there is a progressive relationship based on the evolutionary relatedness between taxa of organisms.
It is true that scientists determine evolutionary relationships by looking at breeding behavior, geological distribution, and structural similarities between organisms. Scientists can use other criteria to determine evolutionary relationships.
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They see similarities with structures between modern day organisms and older organisms.
homology is the equality between two sequences that show the same evolutionary pattern and similarity is the likeness between two sequences that may not follow an identical evolutionary relationship.
In the system of classification called cladistics there is a progressive relationship based on the evolutionary relatedness between taxa of organisms.
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It has been observed that there is a correlation between GC content and relatedness between species. This means there is a similarity in GC content in closely relates species. And since taxonomy is involved with classification of organisms, GC contect is an excellent indicator of relatedness. Using this technique, the classification process can be made more precise
Mitochondria and ribosomes are the organelles useful in investigating potential evolutionary relationships. For example, mitochondria can be used to determine relatedness between individuals and species.
When comparing nucleotide sequences in organisms, we find that the organisms that have less differences in their nucleotide sequences are closer related in the evolutionary tree. By this we mean that the common ancestor from which these two organisms evolved is more modern than the ancestor they might share with an organism that shows more difference in the DNA sequencing. Example: the chimps and humans share a common ancestor that is relatively modern because the difference in their nucleotide sequences is just about 1% but the differences between the nucleotide sequence of humans and fish shows lots of differences which shows their common ancestor y much older than the one with chimps.
based on natural evolutionary relationships Answer Phylogenetics is the study of the closeness/relatedness of genetic codes.
ancestral relationships of organisms Plato users c
Branching tree diagrams (or cladograms) attempt to show the ancestral relationships between species. The groupings indicate relatedness - closely grouped organisms will be more closely related (sharing a more recent common ancestor) than organisms which descend from earlier divisions, which will be further away on the cladogram.
The degree of relatedness between two different species can be determined by taxons and a classificaton system. The classification system is used to organize things into different categories based on their evolutionary relationships.
It assumes that all changes in amino acid sequence are random and aren't affected by natural selection and this probably isn't true. Moreover, sequences of amino acids change at different rates in different organisms
It is true that scientists determine evolutionary relationships by looking at breeding behavior, geological distribution, and structural similarities between organisms. Scientists can use other criteria to determine evolutionary relationships.