The Role of Molecular Biology in Evolutionary Classification Essay (Essay Sample)

The Role of Molecular Biology in Evolutionary Classification
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The Role of Molecular Biology in Evolutionary Classification
Since evolution’s acceptance as a scientific theory, scientists have taken steps of discovering relationships between different species of organisms. The evolution theory, initially, rested on the physical characteristics to explain the origin of various organisms (Moore, 2014). Precisely, some living things were found to have originated from the same ancestor but ended up with different traits. This phenomenon is known as divergent evolution. However, other organisms with different ancestors ended up with common characteristics, thus being found in the same species, thus being termed as convergent. Notably, to accept the evolution theory, there must be hard molecular evidence, such as Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) similarities in various organisms. Consequently, scientists have used DNA hybridization, gene sequencing, and mitochondrial DNA similarity to prove that molecular biology plays a significant role in evolutionary classification.
DNA hybridization process has proven, beyond doubt, to be a useful process for developing an evolutionary classification. According to Moore (2014), this procedure mongrelizes the genetic material from two physically different organisms to determine their molecular resemblances. Particularly, DNA strands from both species are separated using heat, a condition that breaks the bonds between the DNA base pairs that link the two strands of the double helix (Dotson, 2018). The genetic information is then chopped into trivial parts, mixed up, and allowed to recombine (Moore, 2014). Similar organisms’ DNA base pairs link, thus providing a backup for genetic similarity (University of Konstanz, 2018). Nevertheless, the more the pairs that link up, the closer the species’ evolutionary relationship.