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UBC Biology 121 2018 Targeted Tutorials – Reading Phylogenetic trees

BIOLOGY 121 Practice worksheet

TOPIC: READING PHYLOGENETICS TREES

1. Consider the phylogenetic tree shown below. Nodes are labeled with numbers (1 – 13) above each
node. You can refer to monophyletic groups (clades) by their ancestral nodes in your answers.

Collagen
13 Vertebrates
*

Animals
Extracellular matrix
Tight junctions

11
12 Insects
*
*

Opisthokonts
Sponges
10
Single flagellum Choanoflagellates
Insertion in EF1a gene
7 Capsaspora

Eukaryotes
6 8
Fungi
*
9 Fonticula
*
Nuclearia
3 Breviatea
Nucleus

*
Cytoskeleton Slime molds
Organelles 4
2
5 Shelled amoebae

1 Amoeba

Land plants
Archaea
*
Bacteria

* = multicellular lineage
a) Is the group composed only of Fungi and Fonticula monophyletic? Justify your answer.

b) Identify a monophyletic group of your choice that includes choanoflagellates. List all of the
members of this group and the node of the common ancestor.

c) Which node represents the most recent common ancestor of land plants and animals?

d) Assume that multicellularity can be gained but not lost.

According to this tree, how many times has multicellularity evolved within eukaryotes? _____
On the tree, mark all branches where multicellularity arose with a star.

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© UBC Biology 121 2018 Targeted Tutorials – Reading Phylogenetic trees
e) A new species is discovered that has an insertion in the EF1a gene and a single flagellum. This
new species is multicellular, but does not have collagen or extracellular matrix. What lineage or
clade might this new species belong to? Justify your answer.

f) i. Do shelled amoebae have a nucleus? Why or why not?

ii. Do archaea have organelles? Why or why not?

g) Based only on this phylogenetic tree, is it accurate to say that Capsaspora are more primitive
than Animals? Explain your answer.

h) A lot of basic research in molecular and cell biology is performed on yeast (a fungus), and the
results are typically applicable to mammalian cells. Bacteria such as E. coli are cheaper and
easier to culture that yeast, and their biology is extremely well known (more is known about E.
coli than any other organism in the world). Yet, yeast is a much better model organism for
understanding animal biology. What is a likely reason for this?

2. Which of the trees represented below show the same phylogenetic relationships as each other? Briefly
justify your answer.
A B C D A B C D A B C D A C D B D C A B

1. 2. 3. 4. 5.

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© UBC Biology 121 2018 Targeted Tutorials – Reading Phylogenetic trees
Traditional hypothesis
Comb Bilaterian
Sponges Cnidarians
3. The two trees at right represent two hypotheses about the jellies animals
evolutionary relationships within animals.
Does one or more hypothesis suggest that sponges are more closely
related to cnidarians than to comb jellies? Justify your answer.

New hypothesis
Comb Bilaterian
Sponges Cnidarians
jellies animals