10.4 Investigating diversity Flashcards
what are the ways of investigating diversity?
- observable characteristics
- looking for base sequences of DNA
- base sequence of mRNA
- amino acid sequence of proteins
- immunological comparisons of proteins
how do you investigate diversity through observable characteristics?
there’s variation within species
depends on the number of variety of alleles for a specific gene
advantage and disadvantage of using observable characteristics to investigate diversity
fast
but
unreliable
limitations of using observable characteristics for investigating diversity
many observable characteristics are coded for by more than one gene - difficult to determine relationships
may be influenced by the environment
how do you investigate diversity by looking at the base sequence of DNA?
- isolate DNA - process it - analyse it get the DNA base sequence
- compare it to others
- the more similar the base sequence the more closely related the different species are
(based on %)
how do you investigate diversity by looking at the base sequence of mRNA?
DNA base sequence determines mRNA sequence (introns)
compare them
the more similar base sequence, the more closely related
how do you investigate diversity by looking at the a/a sequence of proteins?
mRNA base sequence determines a/a sequence
the more similar/the less differences the more closely related
what protein do we use to investigate diversity through immunological comparisons?
albumin - found in lots of species
process of immunological comparisons of proteins
- extract albumin from species 1
– has specific antigens - inject into species 2
– produces antibodies specific to the antigen - antibodies injected into blood from species A and B
how do you use immunological comparisons of proteins?
(in terms of results)
If the antigen on albumin is close enough to Species A, it will bind
The greater the mass of precipitate = the greater the similarity between antigens = more closely related species
