Question

Four relatively recent fossil species were recovered, and when the DNA was extracted, investigators observed that Species W and Z both had long finger bones, and species X and Y had short finger bones. Based upon this information and the hypothetical molecular data below, sequenced from common regions in one gene of their DNA, which two species are the most closely related to each other?

Species W:
AACATTGCTT
TTGTAACGAA

Species X:
AACCGCGCGT
TTGGCGCGCA

Species Y:
AGCAGCGCTT
TCGTCGCGAA

Species Z:
AACCGCGCTT
TTGGCGCGAA

A) Species X and Z
B) Species W and Z
C) Species Y and Z
D) Species X and Y

Answer 1

A) Species X and Z

Step-by-step explanation:

When comparing DNI sequences, you can see that the individuals with the most similar chains are X and Z. They only differ in the penultimate pair of bases. Species X carries guanine-cytosine pair, while species Z carries the Timin-Adenine pair.

Species X: Species Z:

AACCGCGCGT AACCGCGCTT

TTGGCGCGCA TTGGCGCGAA

The other species differ a lot from each other.