1.1.
3 Concept & Uses of Classification
Systems: Extended
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Reflecting Evolutionary Relationships: Extended
Classification systems aim to reflect evolutionary relationships between species
Traditional biological classification systems grouped organisms based on
the features that they shared
o If organisms shared more similar features then they were said to be more closely
related
In the past, scientists have encountered many difficulties when trying to determine
the evolutionary relationships of species based on this method
Using the physical features of species (such as colour/shape/size) has many
limitations and can often lead to the wrong classification of species
Using DNA to Classify Organisms: Extended
Organisms share features because they originally descend from a common ancestor
Example: all mammals have bodies covered in hair, feed young from mammary glands
and have external ears (pinnas)
Originally, organisms were classified using morphology (the overall form and shape of
the organism, e.g. whether it had wings or legs) and anatomy (the detailed body structure
as determined by dissection)
As technology advanced, microscopes, knowledge of biochemistry and eventually DNA
sequencing allowed us to classify organisms using a more scientific approach
Studies of DNA sequences of different species show that the more similar the base
sequences in the DNA of two species, the more closely related those two species
are (and the more recent in time their common ancestor is)
This means that the base sequences in a mammal’s DNA are more closely related to
all other mammals than to any other vertebrate groups
DNA sequences can show how closely related different species are
The sequences above show that Brachinus armiger and Brachinus hirsutus are more
closely related than any other species in the list as their DNA sequences are identical
except for the last but one base (B.armiger has a T in that position whereas B.hirsutus has
an A)
As DNA base sequences are used to code for amino acid sequences in proteins, the
similarities in amino acid sequences can also be used to determine how closely related
organisms are
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