Question

You are studying the amino acid sequence of a protein shared by four organisms. You want to know which organism is most closely related to organism A. You have data that shows the number of amino acid differences between organism A and each of the other organisms. Study the data in the chart and use it to answer the question.

Organism Number of differences in amino acid sequence from organism A
B 3
C 5
D 1

Which organism does this data suggest is most closely related to organism A?
1) Organism B
2) Organism C
3) Organism D

Answer 1

Organism D, having the fewest differences in amino acid sequence from Organism A, is suggested to be the most closely related. Organisms B and C show more differences, thus being less related, with C the most distant. Option 3) Organism D is the correct answer.

Step-by-step explanation:

Your question concerns the determination of evolutionary relationships between different organisms based on amino acid sequence differences. Based on the chart you provided, which shows the number of amino acid differences in a protein when compared to that of organism A, we can infer evolutionary relationships.

The fewer the differences in the amino acid sequence, the more closely related the organisms are likely to be, because fewer differences suggest a more recent common ancestor.

Here is the breakdown of amino acid sequence differences from organism A:

• Organism B: 3 differences
• Organism C: 5 differences
• Organism D: 1 difference

Given these differences, we can deduce that Organism D is the most closely related to Organism A since it has the fewest amino acid differences (only 1). In contrast, Organisms B and C have more differences, indicating they are less closely related to Organism A, with Organism C being the most distantly related among the three based on this data.