4 Flashcards
Homology?
When similar characteristics are due to common ancestry.
Homoplasy?
When similar traits are due to convergent evolution.
Sometimes, what traits are only available in fossils?
Morphological traits.
DNA sequences are excellent for only which type of species?
Contemporary
For a trait to be informative, it must be?
Inherited.
Ideal traits have a low rate of being?
Homoplasy’s
Closely related species will have more similar/less similar DNA sequences?
More similar
Can we use the same gene in different species to analyze traits?
Yes
Slowly evolving traits are good at?
Showing relationships between distantly related taxa.
Rapidly evolving traits can reveal relationships between?
Closely related taxa.
Molecular clock?
Indicate how long ago species diverged.
How do you get a molecular clock to estimate in real time (years)?
When combined with fossil records.
Genes with slowly evolving nucleotide sites are useful for?
Distantly related species.
Genes with rapidly evolving nucleotide sites are useful for?
Closely related species
How to create phylogenetic trees using DNA sequences? 5•
- Make sure that genes are aligned
- Identify different nucleotide sites between species
- Look for nucleotides that are shared between certain species.
The more similar nucleotide sequences, the more closely related they are.
Use this to create the amount of evolutionary change that occurred to convert a Cladogram to a phylogram with each mark representing a mutation in the DNA sequence.
