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Hard: Molecular Taxonomy

Hardbiology

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

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About This Question

Subject
biology
Chapter
diversity in living world
Topic
hard: molecular taxonomy
Difficulty
Hard
Year
2025
Tags
Molecular TaxonomyPhylogeny

Solution

Correct Answer:

18S rRNA sequences

  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 ; in eukaryotes, the 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.

This hard difficulty biology question is from the chapter diversity in living world, covering the topic of hard: molecular taxonomy. It appeared in the 2025 exam.

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