Question

In deducing the evolutionary relationships among dogs, do you think it would be better to use a sequence that is neutral or one that is under selection? Explain your answer

Answer 1

Answer:

a neutral marker

Explanation:

A gene polymorphism can be defined as the existence of two or more variants of the same gene (i.e., alleles). A polymorphism may be a difference of one nucleotide base in DNA (single nucleotide polymorphisms, SNPs) or indels (i.e., insertions and deletions). A gene under selection will have many polymorphisms in its sequence which may lead to convergence and disproportionate divergence among sequences, and thereby will be uninformative to trace the evolutionary history among individuals within a species, population, etc. Conversely, neutral molecular markers exhibit fewer nucleotide differences, it is for that reason that they are commonly used to determine genetic population structure among individuals.