Question

You have isolated and purified a new species of cells from the rain forest and you want to place this new species in the appropriate branch of the tree of life. You sequence the ribosomal RNA genes from these cells and discover that for one particular region of the ribosomal gene (the rRNA) the RNA sequence is AAUGAAGG. You have sequences from the same region of the ribosomal genes (the rRNA) from each of these species: bacteria, eukaryote and archaea, which are listed below.

bacteria AUAGAUGG
eukaryote AAAGAAGG
archaea AAUGGAGU
Based on these sequence results, to which branch of the tree of life should you assign this new species?
a. eukaryote
b. archaea
c. bacterial
d. bacteria and archaea
e. There is not enough information.

Answer 1

The correct answer is: option A. eukaryote.

Step-by-step explanation:

The sequence of the newly found rRNA is AAUGAAGG is similar to the sequence is given for the eukaryote which is AAAGAAGG, there is only one exception at 3thirs position of the sequence which is instead of uracil there is adenosine. However, this could be a result of the transversion mutation where A converted into U of the period of evolution.

On the other hand, the rRNA of bacteria and archaea have a very high difference in their sequence with a change in one than one base.