hard: molecular taxonomy

Question

Which molecular feature is most commonly compared to infer deep evolutionary divergence among major eukaryotic lineages?

RankGuru · Accepted Answer

1. **Universal Clock**: For deep phylogenetic studies (going back millions of years), we need highly conserved molecular markers.
2. **rRNA**: Ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes are present in all living things and change very slowly over time.
3. **Target**: In prokaryotes, researchers use $16S \ rRNA$; in eukaryotes, the **$18S \ rRNA$** sequence is the standard for reconstructing ancient evolutionary relationships.
4. **Other Features**: Size, membrane thickness, or lipid content vary too quickly and are too dependent on environmental/adaptive factors to be reliable markers for deep evolutionary time.

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hard: molecular taxonomy

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