First off, What I did on Day ????. (somehow I'll probably remember what day it is and I'll go back and add the missing ones...)
Today we investigated Common Descent with Molecular Biology.
We were trying to compare the relatedness between organisms by examining the amino acid sequence in the protein, Cytochrome c. By comparing the amino acid sequences between many organisms we were able to determine how closely or distantly organism A was from Organism B.
We discovered that the Horse and Cow had only 3 differences, which makes sense since they look similar, share similar bone structure, walk on 4 legs...etc.
We also discovered that a whale and a moth had 22 differences. Which shocked me, for I thought there would be more of a differences. One was a mammal, while the other was a tiny bug. This just shows how close everyone is... creepy.
Quiz: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B_nnOJLj_iJAaFVCUWxHelRvM1E/edit?usp=sharing
1. The evidence supports that the Mesonychid was an ancestor of the Basilosaurus, because of anatomical similarities. Both appear to share the "1 bone 2 bone blob" structure."
2. marsupials appear to have began on the continent North America. (e).
3. Bats, Birds, and Dragonflys all share analogous structures, wings. Although they all have wings, with basic similarities, light weight and large length, the underlying structure is completely different. This shows that they have evolved from different ancestral structures. It shows convergent evolution, where the independent evolution of similar features appears in different lineages.
4. The Common Descent lab focused on Amino acid sequences. By comparing the differences in amino acid sequences in cytochrome-c from 20 different species side by side, we were able to observe which species shared similarities and differences, thus allowing us to infer that some species shared near common ancestors. With the Rhesus Monkey and the Human's amino acid sequences there was only 1 difference on amino acid number 66. This shows that the Rhesus Monkey and the Human are very closely related, and have shared a close common ancestor. It also shows that our structures and organs may be similar.
5. Homology is the study of similar structures in different organisms that can show a common ancestor. Some examples would be the 1 bone, 2 bone, blob structure that is found in many organisms. It is found in the Bat, the whale, the Human, the seal, the lion and even the orangutan. This shows that all these species shared a common ancestor at one point. (we are all mammals!)
