Lesson 10.

6 Learning Task Worksheet

These questions should help you to review the content and skills that you learned by reading Concepts
26.4, 26.5, and 26.6 of your textbook and completing all of the lesson activities.

● Read each question carefully.

● Complete each question thoroughly.
● Turn in your completed worksheet to your teacher.

1. Ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes often are used for investigating relationships between taxa that
diverged hundreds of millions of years ago. Why do you think these genes are utilized in this way?

2. How has evidence form rRNA genes provided evidence of the ancestry of fungi?

3. Where in eukaryotic cells is DNA found outside of the nucleus? How is this used in evolutionary
research?

4. What process accounts for the fact that humans have hundreds of copies of olfactory receptor genes?
5. Why does gene duplication allow for the production of novel proteins?

6. Orthologous genes are related ancestrally but have diverged from one another over time in different
species. How can these genes be used as “molecular clocks” to measure the timing of evolutionary
change?

7. Would you expect genes that are highly selected for to have a predictable mutation rate or an
unpredictable mutation rate? Explain your answer.

8. When is a gene considered a neutral gene? How are neutral genes used in molecular clocks?

9. What level of certainty exists for the use of molecular clocks?

10. Explain the five-kingdom classification system used for living organisms in the late 1960s.
11. What drove the development of the three-domain classification system?

12. Why is the kingdom Protista obsolete?

13. Horizontal gene transfer is thought to have played a significant role in the early evolution of life on
Earth. Is there any evidence to show that this still may be happening today?

14. Endosymbiosis is a type of horizontal gene transfer. Which two eukaryotic organelles contain their
own circular DNA and are thought to have evolved by endosymbiosis?

15. Why is the description of life as a “tangled web” an excellent analogy for all life on Earth?