Evolution of Biology Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Evolution of Biology - Research Paper Example On the basis of the FGF amino acid sequences found in the metazoan lineages, it has been exhibited that the evolutionary scenarios in the metazoan lineages are associated with the FGF gene content. Two hypotheses have been proposed on the basis of the evolutionary progression in the metazoan lineage. The first hypothesis states that the eight FGF subfamilies are chordae-specific and the second hypothesis states that the eight subfamilies were ancestral to all eumetazoans. The study results showed that the chordates possessed two gene copies of the FGF gene and duplications occurred generating the current diversity. The metazoan lineage, on the other hand, exhibits high degree of gene losses during their evolution. Therefore, a total of eight gene families were present in the eumetazoan ancestors, out of which there were six gene losses in cnidarians, five in ambulacrarians and five in protostomes. For phylogenetic analysis of vertebrae FGFs, the amino acids were aligned and maximum likelihood tree was built. For the nonvertebrae FGF phylogenetic analyses, the obtained FGF sequences were aligned with the already known FGF sequences from the metazoan lineages. Maximum likelihood tree for this group was also generated. The methodology focuses on comparing the FGF subfamilies from the vertebrae and non-vertebrae groups to understand the genetic evolutionary process. The approach of the methods used by the research was focused on supporting the hypothesis and different sequences were compared so that an understanding of the variations in the genetics of FGF family could be compared. The data is exhibited through easy to understand diagrams and chromosomal maps. For exhibiting the evolutionary progression of the FGF family the comparison of the amino acid sequences is crucial so that the duplications or losses could be understood. The hypothesis is supported successfully by the results of the data which represents that the FGF