The study of evolutionary mechanisms in operation at the molecular scale, primarily DNA, RNA, and proteins.
Questions tagged [molecular-evolution]
174 questions
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Is the heterotroph hypothesis universally accepted?
I was wondering whether there are hypotheses that take a different approach that is contrary to the heterotroph hypothesis.
The heterotroph hypothesis states that autotrophs evolved from heterotrophs because of the lack of food.
Is this issue…
user8669
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Intron sequences in course of evolution
In course of evolution did some exons become intronic sequences or will introns in some species acts as exons in other species.
Dinesh Raju
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What is known about major events of pre-LUCA evolution?
All organisms share many common biochemical features (including 20 amino acid genetic code) and are believed to have a common ancestor (so-called LUCA). According to wikipedia article, this common ancestor was quite complex organism with advanced…
Volodymyr
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Creating ideal conditions for life
Suppose some scientists built a large vat, sterilised it and filled it with distilled water. Then they start dissolving compounds into the water such as amino acids or what ever they deem conducive to life. They can also control temperature,…
Lorry Laurence mcLarry
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Are ITS1 and ITS2 good for divergence time estimation?
I had a discussion with a colleague who told me internal transcribed spacers (ITSs) are not good for divergence time estimation:
Because they are non protein coding genes;
Because they belong to a gene family.
However, I was not able to find…
jvddorpe
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How far in evolutionary distance is the P-distance estimator "accurate"?
I'm reading Yang's computational molecular evolution and in the very first chapter it says the P distance is a "simplistic distance measure" between two sequences. It is the number of different sites / the total number of sites.
However, because…
rg255
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Why are probionts not considered cellular life?
I am currently studying Prescott's Microbiology, 10th edition, by Willey, Sherwood, and Woolverton. Chapter 1.2 Microbes Have Evolved and Diversified for Billions of Years presents the following figure:
The authors then ask the question: Why are…
The Pointer
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Does Mitochondrial Eve existence suggest genetic fitness, and what evolutionary developments map to her time period?
I am not sure of the size of the population at the time of Mitochondrial Eve, but I assume it must have been reasonably large. It seems to me that without bias, each female at that time should have an equal number of descendants. It seems very…
GC_
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