Chapter 1. Using Phylogenetic Analysis to Reconstruct Evolutionary History

The figure shows an overview of the experiment described in the tutorial. What do the gray dots on the figure represent?

Why did the investigators keep the identities of each virus generation a secret from the other researchers developing the phylogenetic tree?

Of the following scenarios, which would provide the best analogy for describing the process of constructing a phylogenetic tree using genetic information?

A student comments that constructing phylogenetic trees must be possible for organisms with many shared characteristics such as camels and horses, but not possible for organisms with no obvious shared characteristics such as oak trees and sharks. Which statement provides the best evaluation of the student’s thinking?