When considering the evolutionary tree of life and the three domains of life, which statement best describes what likely happened over the course of millions of years of evolution?

Question

Biology

Brodie Krause

6 February, 21:34

When considering the evolutionary tree of life and the three domains of life, which statement best describes what likely happened over the course of millions of years of evolution?

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Answers (1)

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Taylor Tucker · Answer 1

The answer is - Although their cell structures are very different, archaean and eukaryotic cells are more closely related to each other than to bacteria, as evidenced by the fact that Bacteria was the first domain to split from the shared ancestor of Archaea and Eukarya.

Explanation:

The options are:

A. Bacterial and eukaryotic cells are more closely related to each other than to archaeans, as evidenced by the fact that bacteria and eukaryotes do not inhabit the most extreme environments.

B. Although their cell structures are very different, archaean and eukaryotic cells are more closely related to each other than to bacteria, as evidenced by the fact that Bacteria was the first domain to split from the shared ancestor of Archaea and Eukarya.

C. Bacteria and archaeans are more closely related to each other than to eukaryotes, as evidenced by their cell structures. Bacteria and archaeans are prokaryotic, while all eukaryotic cells contain mitochondria and other membrane-bound organelles.

D. The three domains of life are equally divergent from one another, so no two domains are more closely related to each other. This is supported by the evolutionary tree of life because three branches extend from one node millions of years ago.

The answer is - B. Although their cell structures are very different, archaean and eukaryotic cells are more closely related to each other than to bacteria, as evidenced by the fact that Bacteria was the first domain to split from the shared ancestor of Archaea and Eukarya.

Archaea and bacteria are similar in terms of cellular organisation and size but are however similar to eukaryotes (eukarya) at the molecular level. Archaea and Eukaryotes both undergo DNA replication and protein synthesis the same mechanism. Both of them posses closely related genes and several metabolic pathways, including the enzymes in transcription and translation.