How might studying DNA help scientists piece together the history of life on Earth?

1 Answer
Dec 1, 2016

The similarities and differences between the DNA of organisms might help to establish relationships between the organisms

Explanation:

The assumption of Darwinian evolution is that all living things are related and come down through modification and descent from a common ancestor.

The prediction would be that the more similar the DNA is the more closely related the organisms would be. These predicted similarities would help to build a history of the life on the earth.

A similar prediction was made about the protein structures of common proteins. The idea was that by studying the similarities and differences in common proteins that relationships could be determined between difference organisms. Sadly the prediction turn out not to work. There were groups of organism that were equal distance from each other and no relationship showing descent could be determined.