GENERAL BIOLOGY REVIEWER (2ND QUARTER)

SHOOT SYSTEM

ANATONY

→ the growth and metabolism of the plant root system is

I. PLANT BIOLOGY: Anatomy and Physiology
supported by the process of photosynthesis occurring in
BOTANY – The scientific study of plants; plant biology, plant leaves
science, phytology

CLASSIFICATION OF PLANTS
→ VASCULAR – comprised of xylem (water) and phloem (food
and nutrients); transport food and water to different parts of
the plant

→ NON-VASCULAR – do not have a vascular system; mode of

transportation: simple diffusion

1. BRYOPHYTES - mosses and liverworts; non-vascular plants;

reproduce through spores

2. PTERIDOPHYTES – ferns; vascular plants; reproduce

through spores

3. GYMNOSPERMS – cone-bearing plants; pines, cycads,

ginkgos; vascular; reproduces through cone structure

- MALE CONES – tube-like, clustered, brown; scales:

microsporophylls; pollen sacks: microsporangium; pollen:
microspore/microgametophyte; life span: several weeks;
position: above female cones

- FEMALE CONES – scales: megasporophylls; life span:

several years; position: beneath male cones

4. ANGIOSPERMS – flower-bearing plants; monocots, dicots;

vascular; reproduce through floral structures

PLANT MORPHOANATOMY – deals with structure; in-
depth detailed examination in order to identify position,
relations, structure, and function of body parts.
THE PLANT BODY
LEAF
→ it is usually a green, flattened, lateral structure attached to
a stem and functioning as a principal organ of photosynthesis.
This is also the part where gas exchange (CO2-O2) occurs

1. ROOT SYSTEM – the one that we don’t see; below the ANATOMY
ground; composed of roots

2. SHOOT SYSTEM – the one that we see; above the ground;

composed of stem, leaves, flowers, and fruits

ROOT

ANATOMY

→ the root system of a plant constantly provides the stems

and leaves with water and dissolved minerals

MORPHOLOGY

MORPHOLOGY

fibrous cauline tubercular taproot

 SEED

→ this is the mature ovule of a flowering plant. It is

considered as the embryo, which bears young plant

ANATOMY

LEAF ARRANGEMENT - In botany, phyllotaxis or phyllotaxy is

the arrangement of leaves on a plant stem.

FRUIT

→ it is a seed-bearing structure of a plant which is formed

from the ovary

ANATOMY

FLOWER

→ this organ is present in angiosperms only (or flower-

bearing plants). It possesses whorls of often colorful petals or
sepals, and bears the reproductive parts

ANATOMY

MORPHOLOGY

MORPHOLOGY
PLANT PHYSIOLOGY - deals on how plants function
PLANT GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

→ Plant growth starts from seed germination and continues

to maturity

→ Plant growth and development involves combination of 2

important processes: cellular responses and molecular
interaction

WATER UPTAKE

→ It allows plants to metabolically utilize the chemical

compounds and micronutrients obtained from soil.

→ This is possible due to the presence of root hairs, which

increase surface area of roots for water uptake.

II. ANIMAL MORPHOANATOMY

MORPHOANATOMY - The study of anatomical forms and
structures with emphasison characteristics useful in
distinguishing the species.

MORPHOLOGY - overall body; external

ANATOMY - overall; with dissection; gross to cellular

ANIMAL BODY PLANS

BILATERAL SYMMETRY - divides an organism into mirror PHYLUM CNIDARIA (JELLYFISH, HYDRA, SEA ANEMONES,
image halves CORALS)

→ Marine
→ Body is made of 2 living layers in which the middle layer is
composed of non-living, jelly-like material called ‘mesoglea’.
The outer layer is ectoderm and the inner layer is endoderm.
→ Radial symmetry

RADIAL SYMMETRY - the organism can be divided into similar

halves by passing a plane at any angle along a central axis
GENERAL CNIDARIAN BODY PLAN

ASSYMETRY - not identical on both sides of a central line;

unsymmetrical; lacking symmetry

→ Coelenteron: the central gastric cavity of a coelenterate

PHYLUM PLATYHELMINTHES (FLATWORMS)

→ Body is flattened; has definitive head and tail region;

eyespots in head and has thick cuticle outside the body

PHYLUM PORIFERA (SPONGES)

→ Marine
→ Body is made up of tiny pores
→ 3 main parts: ostia, osculum, spongocoel.
→ Asymmetrical

GENERAL PORIFERAN BODY PLAN

→ A spongocoel is the large, central cavity of sponges. Water PHYLUM NEMATODA (ROUNDWORMS)
enters the spongocoel through hundreds of tiny pores called
→ Body is long, smooth, and unsegmented. Cylindrical bodies
ostia and exits through the larger opening called osculum.
are tapered at both ends
PHYLUM ANNELIDA (SEGMENTED WORMS; EARTHWORM, protected by an outer covering called exoskeleton made of
LEECH) chitin.

→ Body is segmented internally and externally; they have

complete digestive system; tube within a tube body plan

III. GENETICS - is the study of heredity.

→ HEREDITY is the transmission of traits from parents to
offspring

→ TRAIT is the characteristic of an individual

→ GREGOR JOHANN MENDEL – Father or Genetics

PHYLUM MOLLUSCA (SNAILS, SHELLFISH, OYSTERS, CLAMS,

OCTOPUS, SQUIDS, CUTTLEFISH) EARLY CONCEPT OF GENETICS
→ Body is soft, unsegmented and has strong muscular foot (in → BLOODLINE CONCEPT (Aristotle)
snail). Shell can be external (in snails and shellfish) or internal
(in octopus). – “Pangenes” in the blood contained a memory of each
structure in the body.

– Blood then carry the pangenes to the reproductive

system where it is passed on to the offspring.

→ CHROMOSOMAL THEORY OF INHERITANCE (Walter Sutton

and Theodor Boveri)

– The chromosomal theory of inheritance states that

chromosomes are the agents responsible for passing genetic
information from one generation to the next
GENERAL MOLLSUCAN BODY PLAN

MENDEL AND HIS EXPERIMENT ON PEA PLANTS

→ Pisum sativum (scientific name of peas)

GENERAL BODY PLAN OF BIVALVES

→ In cross-pollinating plants that either produce yellow or

green pea seeds exclusively, Mendel found that the first
offspring generation (f1) always has yellow seeds. However,
the following generation (f2) consistently has a 3:1 ratio of
yellow to green.
PHYLUM ECHINODERMATA (SEA STARS, SEA CUCUMBERS,
SEA URCHINS, BRITTLE STARS, SEA LILIES)

→ Body is covered with spiny surface, with an internal

skeleton inside their body. These provide support and
protection to the animal; they use their “tube feet” to move
from one place to another.

→ This 3:1 ratio occurs in later generations as well

PHYLUM ARTHROPODA (INSECTS, CRUSTACEANS, SPIDERS,
SCORPIONS, MILLIPEDES, CENTIPEDES) → Mendel realized that underlying regularity was the key to
understanding the basic mechanisms of inheritance.
→ Body has jointed appendages; In insects, body is divided
into three regions: head, thorax, abdomen. Their soft body is
 3RD HYPOTHESIS: A pair of factors is segregated during the
formation of gametes.

CONCLUSION: Law of Segregation (1st law); For any

FOUR IMPORTANT CONCLUSIONS
1st HYPOTHESIS: There must be something in the plants that
control the traits. Mendel called these ‘factors’. There must
be a pair of factors controlling each type of trait.
particular trait, the pair of alleles of each parent separate and
only one allele passes from each parent on to an offspring.
Which allele in a parent's pair of alleles is inherited is a
matter of chance.
→ PUNNETT SQUARE

CONCLUSION: Inherited traits are controlled by factors that

occur in pairs. These pairs are “genes”. Genes are unit factors
in pairs, which consists of “alleles”. Alleles are one of several
possible forms of a gene. Alleles are represented by
Uppercase and lowercase letters. Uppercase letter: Dominant;
lowercase letter: recessive

4TH HYPOTHESIS: Factors separated and were distributed to

gametes in a way that was completely independent of the
other factor pairs.

CONCLUSION: Law of Independent Assortment (2nd law)

states that different pairs of alleles are passed to offspring
independently of each other; Example: The seed color does
not have any relation with the height of the plant.

→ PHENOTYPE is the observable trait or characteristic. It is

represented by ‘adjectives’; eg. Tall, short (height); white,
purple (color)

→ GENOTYPE is the actual genetic makeup of an individual.

It is represented by ‘alleles’; eg. TT, tt, Tt (height); WW, ww,
Ww (color)

→ HOMOZYGOUS are “pure” which is represented by of two

Uppercase or lowercase letter; HH: Homozygous dominant ;
hh: Homozygous recessive

→ HETEROZYGOUS are “partially pure” which is represented

by one Uppercase and a lowercase letter; Hh: Heterozygous MENDELIAN AND NON-MENDELIAN INHERITANCE
REVIEW
ND
2 HYPOTHESIS: The traits that appeared in F1 plants must → Sex chromosome is located in 23rd pair.
be stronger than their contrasting trait.
→ Sex chromosome is either XX or XY.
CONCLUSION: Principle of Dominance and Recessiveness
states that one factor in a pair may mask the other, → XX for female; XY for male.
preventing the other from having an effect

SEX-LINKED INHERITANCE (MENDELIAN INHERITANCE)

X-LINKED DOMINANT INHERITANCE

→ The disorder-causing Dominant trait is located in the X

chromosome.

→ Offspring whose parents are affected with an X-linked

dominant trait has a 50% chance of inheriting the trait.

→ Eg. Rickets, Fragile X syndrome


→ When the father is affected, all of the female offspring
will be affected, since they inherit their father’s X
chromosome; NONE OF MALE OFFSPRING WILL BE AFFECTED.
→ When the mother is affected, then there is 50% chance
that the son or daughter is affected
→ RICKETS - Vitamin D resistance: Characterized by bent
limbs, the body is not able to absorb calcium due to
resistance from Vitamin D.
→ FRAGILE X SYNDROME causes mild to severe intellectual
disability and affects both males and females but females
usually have milder symptoms. Symptoms include delays in
talking, anxiety, and hyperactive behavior. Some people have
seizures. Physical features might include large ears, a long
face, a prominent jaw and forehead, and flat feet.
X-LINKED RECESSIVE INHERITANCE
→ The disorder-causing recessive trait is located in the X
chromosome.
→ Remember that recessive trait can only be expressed if:
Female offspring carries the recessive trait TWICE; Male
offspring carries the recessive trait ONCE.
→ CARRIERS: Female individual with one X-linked recessive
mutation is considered a carrier. That means, they don’t show
signs and symptoms but they can pass the trait to their
offspring or next generation.
→ Eg. Duchene muscular dystrophy, hemophilia, color
blindness
→ All males with X-linked recessive mutation will be
affected ; Female offspring will be just carriers.
→ DUCHENNE MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY (DMD) is a genetic
disorder characterized by progressive muscle degeneration
and weakness. It is one of nine types of muscular dystrophy;
caused by an absence of dystrophin, a protein that helps keep
muscle cells intact.
→ HEMOPHILIA is a medical condition in which the ability of
the blood to clot is severely reduced, causing the sufferer to
bleed severely from even a slight injury; is typically caused by
a hereditary lack of a coagulation factor
o For Hemophilia A, they lack Factor VIII (8);
o For Hemophilia B, they lack Factor IX or Christmas
Factor (9)
o For Hemophilia C (also called plasma thromboplastin
antecedent (PTA) deficiency or Rosenthal syndrome),
they lack Factor XI (11)
→ COLOR BLINDNESS (or, more accurately, color vision
deficiency) is an inherited condition that affects males more
frequently than females. With this vision problem, you have
difficulty distinguishing certain colors, such as blue and yellow
or red and green.
Y-LINKED INHERITANCE
→ Y-linkage is the manifestation of a phenotypic trait by an
allele or gene on the Y chromosome.
→ Since Y chromosome is smaller compared to the
chromosome, few traits are Y-linked.
→ Y-linked traits are passed only from father to son, with no
genetic recombination occurring.
→ Eg. Hypertrichosis
SEX-INFLUENCED TRAITS
→ Sex-influenced or traits are expressed depending on the
sex (whether male or female).
→ Eg. Baldness – A girl with homozygous dominant or
recessive female may not express baldness because baldness
happens commonly in males.
NON-MENDLEIAN INHERITANCE
MOSAICISM
→ Presence of two or more cells with different genotype
(different cell line) in an individual, which derived from a
single zygote.
→ 2 types of mosaicism:
o SOMATIC MOSAICISM
- Leads to abnormalities based on amount of
normal vs. mutated cells
- eg. Mosaic down syndrome, non-inherited
cancers
o GONADAL (GERMLINE) MOSAICISM
- Presence of more than one cell line in the
gonads but not in the rest of the body
- Mutation occurred in a precursor sperm or egg
cell and is passed on to all derivatives of that
cell. The remainder of germ and somatic cells in
the body do not carry the mutation.
- Eg. Attention deficit disorder
GENOMIC IMPRINTING
→ For most genes, we inherit two working copies -- one
from mom and one from dad. But with imprinted genes, we
inherit only one working copy.
→ Depending on the gene, either the copy from mom or the → The ABO system of blood groups is controlled by three
copy from dad is silenced. alleles, only two of which are present in an individual, is a
perfect example of multiple alleles in humans.
- Silencing usually happens through the addition of methyl
groups (called methylation) during egg or sperm
formation.

→ PATERNAL IMPRINTING the paternally-inherited allele is

silenced or deleted and the maternally-inherited allele is
active. (Example: Prader-Willi Syndrome)

→ MATERNAL IMPRINTING means that the allele of a

particular gene inherited from the mother is silenced or
deleted and the paternally- inherited allele is active.
(Example: Angelman Syndrome)

MITOCHONDRIAL DISORDERS

→ Mitochondria has its own DNA (called extranuclear DNA)

→ As we know, mtDNA is present in all cells but most

abundant in oocyte (RBC is an exception)

→ Mitochondrial disorder is passed on mother to child;

Affected father will not pass the disorder to child

MODIFICATIONS OF MENDELIAN INHERITANCE

INCOMPLETE DOMINANCE

→ In incomplete dominance, neither allele is completely

dominant over the other. There are 3 phenotypes that exist. A
heterozygous genotype is considered as "intermediate" or
"blend" of either two homozygous "pure" trait.

CODOMINANCE

→ Codominance is a form of dominance in which the alleles

of a gene pair in a heterozygote are fully expressed thereby
resulting in offspring with a phenotype that is neither
dominant nor recessive. Example: Camellia
IV. EVOLUTION
→ In biology, evolution is the change in the characteristics
of a species over several generations and relies on the
process of natural selection.

→ CHARLES DARWIN – Father of Evolution

GEOLOGICAL TIME SCALE

→ The geological time scale is a record of the life forms and

geological events in Earth’s history.

→ Scientists developed the time scale by studying rock layers

and fossils world wide.

→ Radioactive dating helped determine the absolute

divisions in the time scale.

MULTIPLE ALLELES

→ Multiple alleles is a type of Non-Mendelian inheritance

pattern where three or more alternative forms of gene (called
alleles) that can occupy the same locus. However, only two of
the alleles can be present in a single organism.

PRECAMBRIAN EON
→ HADEAN ERA
- Formation of Earth
→ ARCHEAN ERA
- Cooling of earth’s crust; earliest rocks and life forms
(prokaryotes and cyanobacteria)
→ PROTEROZOIC ERA
- Life begins in sea; accumulation of oxygen
PHANEZOIC EON
→ PALEOZOIC ERA (OLDEST AND THE LONGEST ERA)
- divided into 6 periods
o CAMBRIAN PERIOD: First invertebrates; “Cambrian
explosion” Gave rise to the earliest invertebrates and
marine fish, especially the trilobites
o ORDOVICIAN PERIOD: Further diversification;
molluscs, arthropods, fish continued to evolve
o SILURIAN PERIOD: First amphibians appeared; Fishes
further diversified; Considered as “Age of Fish”
because the first lobed-finned and ray-finned fishes
evolved in this period
o DEVONIAN PERIOD: First moss-like and vascular
plants appeared
o CARBONIFEROUS PERIOD: First reptiles; First trees,
and seed ferns; Carboniferous means “coal-bearing”.
o PERMIAN PERIOD: Major extinction; Amniotes
(especially reptiles) diversified; The Carboniferous
rainforest collapse left behind vast regions of desert
within the continental interior; Amniotes, who could
better cope with these drier conditions, rose to
dominance in place of their amphibian ancestors;
Amniotes are ancestral groups of the reptiles,
dinosaurs, birds, and mammals; The world during
Permian period was dominated by two continents
known as Pangaea and Siberia, surrounded by a
global ocean called Panthalassa
→ MESOZOIC ERA (ERA OF DINOSAURS)
- divided into 3 periods
o TRIASSIC PERIOD: First mammals, first dinosaurs
o JURASSIC PERIOD: First birds; dinosaurs diversified
o CRETACEOUS PERIOD: Extinction of dinosaurs, first
primates, first flowering plants fishes evolved in this
period
→ CENOZOIC ERA (AGE OF MAMMALS)
- divided into 2 periods
o TERTIARY PERIOD: Mammals diversify
o QUATERNARY PERIOD: Human evolution
EVOLUTIONARY THEORIES
→ These are unifying principles for all branches of biology.
→ It provides explanation for all differences in structure,
function, and behavior among organisms
→ It includes changes in characteristics of populations
through generations. Thus, existing life forms have evolved
from earlier forms
→ JEAN BAPTISTE DE LAMARCK
o LAMARCKISM- States that an organism can pass
on characteristics that it has acquired during its
lifetime to its offspring; also known as the
inheritance of acquired characteristics
o He believed that the long necks of giraffes
evolved as generations of giraffes reached for
ever higher leaves
o He proposed that if an animal could develop a
particular characteristic in its lifetime, then this
trait could be passed on to their offspring and
to the following generations
→ CHARLES DARWIN
o THEORY OF NATURAL SELECTION
- If a characteristic is well suited to an environment
that is used to increase an organism’s survival,
competition and reproduction, then it can be passed
to the further generation and those organisms which
do not possess these abilities will not survive
- VARIATION – there is a genetic variation within a
population which can be inherited
- COMPETITION – overproduction of offspring leads
to competition for survival
- ADAPTATIONS – individuals with beneficial
adaptations are more likely to survive to pass on
their genes
- SELECTION – over many generations, there is a
change in allele frequency (evolution)
o Through time, species gradually adapted to their
environment, leading to evolution of new species
 o On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural → Recombinations are important source of genetic variations
Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in
the Struggle for Life → Recombinations occur during meiosis in homologous
chromosomes

→ ALFRED RUSSEL WALLACE

o Father of biogeography
o Evolution took place by showing how geography
influenced the current distribution of the species
o He recorded exact localities where the species can
be found
o He believed that physical barriers could be a factor
for evolution.

→ GREGOR MENDEL

o Supported the idea of natural selection of Darwin

o Studies of Mendel shows how genetic traits in an
organism’s population could be selected by
GENETIC DRIFT
environmental pressures and how these populations
easily become adapted to its environment. → Genetic drift refers to changes in allele frequency in a
gene pool due to chance event (eg. Massive death, great
depression, extinction event)

→ The bottleneck effect prevents the majority of genotypes

MECHANISMS OF EVOLUTION from participating in production of the next generation

MUTATION

→ Mutations are the primary source of genetic differences

in prokaryotes.

→ Sexual recombination and mutations are important in

eukaryotes.

→ The founder effect occurs when rare alleles contributed

by founders of a population occur at a higher frequency in
isolated populations

GENE FLOW

→ Gene flow results when alleles move between

populations due to migration.

NATURAL SELECTION

→ Differential survival and reproduction of traits controlled

by genes

RECOMBINATIONS → It is the process whereby organisms better adapted to

their environment tend to survive and produce more
→ Because of sexual reproduction, new gene combinations offspring. The theory of its action was first fully expounded by
are introduced in a population
Charles Darwin and is now believed to be the main process
that brings about evolution
ARTIFICIAL SELECTION
→ The breeding of plants and animals to produce desirable
traits. Organisms with the desired traits, such as size or taste,
are artificially mated or cross-pollinated with organisms with
similar desired traits
→ Selection due to human activities (eg. Breeding,
cultivating)
HARDY-WEINBERG EQUILIBRIUM
→ When a population does not change its allele frequencies,
they are in Hardy-Weinberg Equilibrium.
→ It is a way to determine how real populations change over
time by developing a model of a population that does not
change genetically from one generation to the next
→ Actual populations can be compared to the hypothetical
model
→ If proportions of genotypes do not change from generation
to generation, the genotypes are said to be in Hardy-
Weinberg Equilibrium
WHERE:
p = frequency of dominant allele (ex. A)
q = frequency of recessive allele (ex. a)
p2 = frequency of individuals homozygous for allele A
2pq = frequency of individuals heterozygous for alleles A and
a
q2 = frequency of individuals homozygous for allele a
EVIDENCES OF EVOLUTION
THEORY OF EVOLUTION
→ The theory of evolution states that all organisms on Earth
have descended from a common ancestor
WHAT ARE THESE EVIDENCES?
1. PALEONTOLOGICAL EVIDENCE (FOSSILS)
→ Paleontology deals with locating, cataloging, and
interpreting the life forms that existed in past millennia
→ It is the study of fossils — The preserved remains or
traces of an organism that is no longer living
→ Usually found in sedimentary rocks
→ Paleontology indicates that fewer kinds of organisms
existed in past eras, and the organisms were probably less
complex.
→ Paleontology supports the theory of evolution because it
shows a descent of modern organisms from common
ancestors.
2. BIOGEOGRAPHICAL EVIDENCE (LOCATIONS)
→ Biogeography is the study of geographical distributions of
organisms.
→ Evolution is linked to climate and plate tectonics which
explains many ancestral relationships and geographic
distributions seen in fossils and living organisms.
→ Biogeography: Closely related species are usually found in
areas that are geographically close to each other.
3. COMPARATIVE ANATOMY (COMPARING STRUCTURES)
→ Comparative anatomy is the study of anatomical
structures to find similarities and differences.
→ In studying comparative anatomy, we examine pairs of
structures, either homologous or analogous.
o HOMOLOGOUS STRUCTURES are body parts with
similar basic structure (derived from same structures
in embryo—same common descent), but may vary in
function;
 o ANALOGOUS STRUCTURES are body parts that have
the same function (may look somewhat alike), but
have different structures and DO NOT have a
common descent; Example: wings have developed
independently in insects, pterodactyls, birds, and
bats. They are not embryologically derived or
related.
→ Homology: same structures; different functions; Analogy:
different structures; same functions.
o -The cytochrome c of humans and chimpanzees is
identical
8. SELECTION (THE NATURAL SELECTION)
→ Antibiotic resistance is the ability of a microorganism to
withstand the effects of an antibiotic
→ Some species of bacteria that originally were killed by
antibiotics (like penicillin) have evolved to be drug resistant

→ For nearly every antibiotic, there is at least one species of

4. EMBRYOLOGY (DEVELOPMENT)
→ Embryology is the study of development of an embryo
from the stage of ovum fertilization through to the fetal stage
→ Patterns of embryological development can indicate a
common ancestry
5. CONTRIVANCES
resistant bacteria.
9. ADAPTATIONS (FOR SURVIVAL)
→ Adaptation is the change or adjustment in structure or
habits by which a species becomes better able to function in
its environment, occurring through the course of evolution by
means of natural selection

→ A feature that was developed for something different than
it is used for today
o Camouflage: adaptation that allows a species to
blend in with their environment; Example: leafy sea
dragon, Phycodurus eques
o Mimicry: one species changes to look like another
species; Examplex: Harmless snake “mimics” a
poisonous snake so predators leave it alone

6. VESTICAL STRUCTURES (PRESENT BUT USELESS)

→ A vestigial structure is an anatomical feature that has

retained in the body during the process of evolution that no
longer seems to have a purpose in the current form of an
organism of the given species

→ Examples of Vestigial Structures:

1. Human appendix (other mammals it is necessary to

aid in digestion)

2. Human external ear muscle (useless, but still there)

3. Human tailbone (coccyx)

4. Human wisdom teeth

7. BIOCHEMISTRY AND PHYSIOLOGY (SUBSTANCES AND

FUNCTIONS)

→ Biochemistry is the branch of biology that explores the

chemical processes within and related to living organisms

→ Physiology is a branch of biology that deals with the

functions and activities of life or of living matter

→ Evolutionary theory predicts molecules in species with a

recent common ancestor should share certain amino acid
sequences.

→ The more closely related the species are, the more amino
acid sequences they have in common.

→ Cytochrome C

o An ancient protein common to all aerobic (oxygen

breathing) organisms

o Amino acid sequence to make cytochrome c differs

increasingly the more distantly related two organisms
are (very similar amino acid sequence = closely related)