Question

Carl Woese is BEST known for discovering that ________.

1) eukaryote membrane-bound organelles are descended from endosymbionts

2) the oldest fossils are 3.4 billion years old

3) prokaryotes comprise two very different branches: Bacteria and Archaea

4) lenergy acting on gases and water vapor will create a "primordial soup" of organic molecules

5) the last universal common ancestor (LUCA) did not have DNA-dependent RNA polymerase

Answer 1

Carl Woese is renowned for discovering that prokaryotes include two distinct domains, Bacteria and Archaea, by using rRNA gene sequences to create a new phylogenetic tree.

Step-by-step explanation:

Carl Woese is best known for discovering that prokaryotes comprise two very different branches: Bacteria and Archaea. His work in the early 1970s led to the identification of the Archaea as a separate domain of life, distinct from the previously recognized prokaryotic kingdom of Bacteria and the eukaryotic domain which includes animals, plants, fungi, and protists. To construct this new phylogenetic tree, Woese utilized genetic relationships, examining small subunit ribosomal RNA (rRNA) sequences, rather than the traditional morphological comparisons.