Diversity of Organisms

Phylogeny
• Phylogenies = hypotheses
about evolutionary basal taxon
relationships using systematics
• Patterns of descent
• Sequence of branching does not
equal absolute ages of species;
does indicate a common
ancestor
sister taxa
• Taxon on a phylogenetic tree
does not mean it evolved from
the taxon next to it.
 Homologies
• Phenotypic and genetic similarities due to shared ancestry

• Organisms that share very similar morphologies or similar DNA

sequences are likely to be more closely related.
• However, phenotypic variation does not always mean significant
genotypic variation
 Analogies
• Similarities based on convergent evolution
• Analagous (similar) adaptations from different evolutionary lineages (similar
environmental pressures and natural selection)

Can distinguish analogy vs homology using:

• Morphological homologies
• Molecular homologies – sequence alignments deletions, insertions etc
 How To Build Phylogenetic Trees
Use Cladistics – classifying organisms by common descent

• Monophyletic – clade (ancestral species and all descendants)

• Polyphyletic – multiple ancestors
• Paraphyletic – ancestral species with some descendants
Using Shared Characters in Phylogenetic
Trees
• Shared ancestral character (shared beyond the taxon)
• Shared derived character (shared within the taxon)
 Principles to Live By When Building
Phylogenetic Trees or Cladograms
• Principle of Maximum Parsimony
Investigate the simplest explanation first!
• fewest evolutionary events
• shared derived characters
• fewest base changes, etc.

• Principle of Maximum Likelihood

Given certain probability rules about DNA sequence changes over time –
what are the most likely evolutionary events?
Bacteria and Archaea
Bacterial Structures

Capsule and Fimbriae

Bacteria Motility
Significant Mesosomes
Structures

Bacterial DNA and plasmids

Transformation vs Congugation vs
Transduction