Question

nucleotide substitutions occur by mistake in a segment of ribosomal rna at a constant rate of one substitution every 100,000 years. a biologist has compared the ribosomal rna of two modern-day species and found that they have six differences in their sequences. how many years ago did these species diverge from a common ancestor? 30,000 years ago 60,0000 years ago 300,000 years ago 60,000 years ago

Answer 1

The number of years of divergence from a common ancestor =300,000 years.

What are mutations?

Mutations are changes that occur in the DNA of living organisms.

Mutations can be used as molecular clocks if they occur at a constant rate.

Considering the nucleotide substitutions occur by mistake in a segment of ribosomal RNA at a constant rate of one substitution every 100,000 years.

The ribosomal RNA of the two modern-day species have six differences in their sequences.

Number of years of divergence = 6/2 * 100000 = 300,000 years.

In conclusion, changes that occur in nucleotide sequences are known as mutations.

Learn more about mutations at: brainly.com/question/12572634

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