Andrs Saravia

A01023253

Biology Outline 5.4 Cladistics

Clades

A clade is a group of organisms that have evolved from a common ancestor. The shark and
stingray share the characteristic that their skeleton is made of cartilage rather than bone.
Shared traits or characteristics can be analogous or homologous.

Analogous: structures that are similar because of convergent evolution. Analogous

structures are used for the same purpose. For example, the wings of insects and the wings
of a bat.

Homologous: structures that are similar because of shared ancestry, but that may have
slightly different functions due to divergent evolution. For example, the pentadactyl limb of
man and bats.

Clades can be based on anatomical characteristics such as the composition of skeletons,

but most clades nowadays are based on the similarity of DNA sequences. Alternatively,
the amino acid sequence of certain proteins can be compared.

A researcher may wish to study the relationships of a group of owls. They may choose to
combine some of the morphological features with an analysis of a particular gene, or the

ribosomal RNA of these species. Alternatively, they could look at the amino acid sequence of
certain proteins, for example, a protein involved in the immune system. Both the DNA
analysis and the protein analysis will allow them to describe the relationships within the
group. The more similarities that exist between the DNA (or protein) sequences of the
various species of owls, the closer the relationship and the more recent these species
diverged from each other. This information can then be used to decide on whether all the
species of the owl could be placed in the same clade.

Molecular Clocks

Biologists are interested in how closely species are related and if they share an ancestor. It
is important to know how long ago two species diverged or when an ancestor of a whole
clade lived. As you know, DNA can mutate. So, over time, small changes occur in the DNA
which can ultimately lead to speciation. These small changes (mutations) accumulate
gradually over time and are an indication of how much time has passed since two species
diverged from an ancestor. For instance, the gene coding for the protein alpha-globin (a
component of haemoglobin) accrues base changes at a rate of .56 changes per base pair
per billion years. Biologists refer to this process as a molecular clock.

Imagine that a stretch of DNA found in two species differs by four bases (as shown in
Figure 1 below) and we are aware that this entire length of DNA changes at an

approximate rate of one base per 25 million years. That means that the two DNA
fragments have 100 million years of evolution between them. Since each lineage
experienced its own evolution, the two species must have descended from a common
ancestor that lived at least 50 million years ago. From this example, it is clear that if a
piece of DNA mutates at a predictable rate like a molecular clock, it becomes a
valuable tool for estimating the dates when two species split from a common ancestor.

Cladograms

A cladogram is a tree diagram that shows the most probable sequence of divergence
within a group that shares characteristics, commonly known as a clade. These days,
cladograms are mostly based on sequence analysis of either DNA bases or amino acid
sequences derived from proteins. As mentioned in other sections, DNA sequence analysis
gives the most accurate results.

Using certain genes for cladistic analysis gives a better result. Some genes are more
conserved, meaning they evolve slower because any mutation might be lethal to the

organism. These conserved genes, for example, the ribosomal RNA genes, allow for
comparing even distantly related species.

Classification Errors

Classification based on traditional methods, where morphology, feeding patterns, and

other behavioural aspects played a major role, have not always resulted in the accurate
depiction of the relationships between organisms. Evidence from cladistics has further
shown that classifications of some groups did not correspond with the evolutionary
origins of a group or species.

The arrival of protein and DNA sequence technologies allowed analysis of these
biochemicals and improved the accuracy of cladistic analysis immensely. This
technology has caused major upsets in the areas of plant and animal classification.
Some groups have merged, and others have been split.