AP BIOLOGY

Detailed explanation-1: -The basic idea behind this approach is that two species have the “same” gene because they inherited it from a common ancestor. For instance, humans, cows, chickens, and chimpanzees all have a gene that encodes the hormone insulin, because this gene was already present in their last common ancestor.

Detailed explanation-2: -That’s because closely related species most likely diverged from one another fairly recently in the evolutionary span. Thus, they haven’t had as much time to accumulate random mutations in their genetic codes.

Detailed explanation-3: -Divergent evolution refers to the process by which interbreeding species diverged into two or more evolutionary groups. It means that these groups of species used to be similar and related. However, they became more and more dissimilar through time.

Detailed explanation-4: -+If a species has a very similar set of proteins, chromosomes or DNA sequences, it is evidence they shared a recent common ancestor. +The more mutations that accumulate in the DNA sequence between two species, the more time will have passed since the species diverged from their common ancestor.

Detailed explanation-5: -Finding the same DNA sequence in two different species can indicate a shared common ancestor between the two species. This is because having similar DNA sequences is an example of homology. The more the DNA sequences match up, the more closely related the two species are.