Evidence for evolution

How can molecular biology be used to support evolution?

• genomics - uses DNA technology to determine base sequence of an organisms genome and the function of its genes

• scientists are able to compare the DNA of different organisms

• suggests that all organisms evolved from shared common ancestors

• organisms more closely related should have more similar DNA

• proteomics - the study of proteins

• the sequence of amino acids is coded by a DNA sequence

• related organisms will have similar DNA and so more similar proteins

• organisms that have diverged more recently will have more similar properties than those who diverged a while ago as less time has passed for the changes to occur

How does the scientific community validate evidence?

• scientific journals are released to share new ideas and theories

• these are read by other scientists and they can repeat experiments to test if they get the same results

• once the results can be replicated over and over the evidence is reliable

• peer review - getting another scientist to read and review their work to check that it is valid and supports the conclusions

• conferences - meetings that scientists attend to discuss their work in the form of a presentation or form

• opportunity for others to ask questions

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