Evolution and Classification of Microorganisms: Phenotype, Genotype, and Phylogeny, Study notes of Biology

Download Evolution and Classification of Microorganisms: Phenotype, Genotype, and Phylogeny and more Study notes Biology in PDF only on Docsity! Lecture 14 -- Evolution, Identification, and Classification of Microorganisms 1. Know and understand the following terms: phenotype, genotype, phylogeny, taxonomy, phylogenetic tree, anoxic, endosymbiosis, species, genus, family, kingdom, domain, Eukarya, Bacteria, Archaea. 2. When is it postulated that life arose on the Earth? What were atmospheric conditions like at that time? 3. What caused the increase in oxygen on Earth, according to current hypotheses? 4. What is the significance of endosymbiosis to humans? What is the evidence for it? How could you test if a mitochondrion were of prokaryotic origin? What other organelle almost certainly originated from a prokaryote? 5. How does a taxonomic classification scheme differ from a phylogenetic one? 6. How can it be determined, using DNA-based methods, that two organisms are similar? 7. What is DNA hybridization? DNA sequencing? 8. What is a phylogenetic tree used for? 9. What's the big deal with the 16S rRNA gene and phylogeny? Why is it used? What about eukaryotes (which don't have a 16S rRNA gene) -- how is their phylogeny determined and compared to that from the 16S gene of prokaryotes? 10. How can a phylogenetic study help us determine whether a gene has been transferred horizontally? 11. What are the '3 domains of life'? Where do we (humans) fall? What was so amazing about the classification of life into these domains? 12. What are the Archaea?