Phylogenetics

GENE 222 Phylogenetic assignment Question One A. Sceptrophasma hispidulum B. Heteropteryx dilatata C. Eurycnema goliath D. Phyllium siccofolium E. Timema knulli Question Two These sequences are sourced from Subunit 1 of the Cytochrome Oxidase gene in the Mitochondria. Question Three There appears to be a greater interspecific variation along this fragment every three base pairs, which would suggest a non-random pattern. During translation of the DNA sequence, tRNA anticodons bind to DNA codons

Zachos, Frank E. "Tree Thinking and Species Delimitation: Guidelines for Taxonomy and Phylogenetic Terminology." Mammalian Biology 81.2 (2015): 185-88. Web. In your own words, what was the main focus of the article? There are multiple interpretations concerning how phylogenetic trees are built and the understanding of the phylogenetic species concept. A common mistake when it comes to interpreting phylogenetic trees, which portray evolutionary relationships among taxa. Generally it is viewed as

Homology is a central concept within the field of phylogenetics. It represents the idea of similarity in structure or anatomical position between organisms, indicating a common origin. Homology is traditionally contrasted with analogy; the similarity of function in two structures that have contrasting origins. However, it is now more common for the concept to be contrasted against homoplasy; a character shared by a set of species that their common ancestor does not possess. The concept of homology

Phylogenetic analysis is the genealogical or evolutionary history of ties between organisms. This deals with the relationship between specific organisms, whereas the analysis focuses on the similarities along with the differences between Organisms; that may evolve at the same time but have different genetic compositions. There are various types of data within phylogenetic analysis one of which is cladistics. Cladistics acknowledges natural groups which include an ancestor and its descendants. The

the Amaranthaceae family is placed in the order Caryophyllales. It includes the plants formerly treated as the family Chenopodiaceae [19]. The monophyly of this new, broadly defined Amaranthaceae is supported strongly by both morphological and phylogenetic analyses [11]. Despite the interest in the taxonomy and classification of the family Amaranthaceae, there is still need to study its phylogeny. The present study shows that a considerably level of similarity exists amongst the taxa (Figure 1 and

The word Metrosideros is derived from two Greek words –“metra” which means “core or heart”, and “sideron” which means “iron”. Thus, Metrosideros species are referred to as iron-hearted trees referring to the durability and hardness of their wood (Dawson & Stemmermann, 1990). The genus Metrosideros belongs to the family Myrtaceae which consists of around 135 genera and more than 3000 species. A substantial number of species of this family are found in Australia and South America while fewer species

difficult to put species in specific categories or relate them to one another. Along with phylogenies can come conflict on which species should be related to one another. This conflict causes many hypotheses and experiments, which can lead to phylogenetic retrofitting,

1. Did the construction of the phylogenetic tree based on the 14 living Caminalcules change the way you would group Caminalcules species in your taxonomic classification (chart)? What does this suggest about classification based on strictly of similarity versus evolutionary relationship? The phylogenetic tree was more of an evolutionary tree. It showed the evolution of the organisms and their ancestors or traits that they branched off of. The chart however just simply organizes and separates the

boundaries. What gene flow does is that it introduces new alleles to a population, thereby reducing the differences among the population. Finally there are 2 schools of philosophies that are used to classify species, evolutionary systematics and phylogenetic systematics. Evolutionary systematics is a more holistic way to study evolutionary relationships while observing the

Opazo et al. (2006) conducted an analysis and found that among the six loci used in their study, two of them supported the hypothesis which suggests that the first split was between Pitheciidae and the remaining platyrrhines, which grouped Atelidae and Cebidae together (Chavez et al., 1999) and one of the loci supported the hypothesis of Ateliedae and Pitheciidae being sister group of the family Cebidae (Canavez et al., 1999). These results therefore indicate that there was an initial radiation in