What is Phylogeny?
Definition of PHYLOGENY
- The evolutionary history of a kind of organism
- The evolution of a genetically related group of organisms as distinguished from the development of the individual organism
Figure 1. Phylogenetic tree
Phylogenetic trees link classification with phylogeny. From the phylogenetic trees, it is able to identify the evolutionary relationships between species.
Phylogeny of the BMPR2 Protein
Before we construct a phylogenetic tree, the homologs and their sequences should be known first. To construct a phylogenetic tree, ClustalWOmega was used.
Figure 2. ClustalWOmega protein alignment results
Figure 2 shows ClustalWOmega protein alignment results of BMPR2 Protein. Highlights in a column with same color mean species share the same amino acid at the certain position.
Phylogenic trees
Please click SEQUENCE ALIGNMENT button if you want to check Clustar Omega Multiple Sequence Alignment
Analysis
According to both Average Distance Using % Identity and BLOSUM62 and Neighbor Joining Using % Identity and BLOSUM62, Chimpanzee is the closest organisms to Human. Overall, mammals are closely related with Human. However, Worm (C. elegans) and Fruitfly (Drosophila melanogaster) are distantly related with Human. Especially, since Worm (C. elegans) does not have a heart, it makes sense that Worm (C. elegans) is not closely related with Human.
References
- Header Image: http://science.kennesaw.edu/~jdirnber/Bio2108/Lecture/LecPhylogeny/26_Labeled_Images/26_12GeneticChangeTree-L.jpg
- Phylogeny. (n.d.). Merriam-Webster. Retrieved May 17, 2014, from http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/phylogeny
- Biology 2108. (n.d.). Biology 2108. Retrieved May 17, 2014, from http://science.kennesaw.edu/~jdirnber/Bio2108/Lecture/LecPhylogeny/LecPhylogeny.html