Practice problem
Universal Genetic Code (Evolution) — Evidence & Examples
Ribosomes are used in almost all living organisms to use RNA and create proteins. Since they are common and sensitive to change, the genes encoding for ribosomes are highly conserved. This means that mutations and changes to the genes for ribosomes are rare.
You are studying three kinds of bacteria. A gene for a segment of their ribosomes, the 16S gene, can be compared in order to determine how the bacteria are related. If bacteria 1 and bacteria 2 are 98% similar, bacteria 2 and bacteria 3 are 95% similar, and bacteria 1 and bacteria 3 are 92% similar, which pair of bacteria are the most closely related?