Molecular clocks use known mutation rates to estimate the time since two organisms, or groups of organisms, diverged based on their genetic differences. The average rate of change of mammalian DNA is approximately 10^-9 per base pair per year. Consider a piece of DNA region that is approximately 1,000 base pairs, and two species that diverged from each other 10 million years ago. How many bases will differ between these sequences today, approximately? (keep this calculation as simple as possible) You can learn more about 'molecular clock' at https://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/the-molecular-clock-and-estimating-species-divergence-41971/ 10 1 0.1 100
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Given rate of change per base pair per year = 10^-9 Number of years since divergence = 10 million years = 10^7 years Rate of change per base pair per 10 million years = 10^-9 * 10^7 = 10^-2 Show more…
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A molecular clock is based on a. measurement of daylength by pigment complexesb. daily changes in amino acid sequence in specialized proteinsc. regulation of the order in which genes are turned ond. precise oscillations of atoms in a crystale. a constant rate of mutation in DNA sequences
Jenny W.
Which of the following best explains a way that a molecular clock can be used? The number of DNA mutations in an organism is measured over time to determine how long it will take for a new species to evolve. The number of DNA mutations in a species is compared to the number of DNA mutations in another species to determine the relative amount of time each species has been evolving. The number of differences in a specific DNA sequence of two species is multiplied by a known mutation rate to determine the number of years of evolution that separate the two species. The number of differences in the DNA sequences of two organisms of the same species is averaged to determine how many years of evolution have occurred.
Adi S.
Molecular clocks are based on comparisons of the number of _________ mutations between species.
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