What can be used as a molecular clock to estimate the time since organisms diverged from a common ancestor?

Question

What can be used as a molecular clock to estimate the time since organisms diverged from a common ancestor?

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

To tackle the question, we first consider what a molecular clock is used for: estimating the time since two lineages shared a common ancestor by comparing accumulated genetic changes.
Option 1: DNA. This is the standard basis for molecular clock analyses because DNA sequences accumulate mutations over time at a roughly clock-like rate in many lineages, allowing us to infer divergence times from observed differences.
Option 2: all types of RNA. This is not accurate as a general rule. While some RNA genes or RNA-based analyses can inform phylogeny, RNA types are not universally used as a single molecular clock across diverse organisms, and the statement overgeneralizes beyond what is standard practice.
Option 3: ATP. Adenosine triphosphate is a molecule involved in energy transfer, not a genetic sequence. It does not provide a lineage-spanning record of mutations needed for timing divergence, so this option is incorrect.
Option 4: Nothing. The assertion that nothing can be used as a molecular clock contradicts the widely used genetic clock concept, and DNA (and sometimes RNA genes) are exactly what scientists rely on for such timing estimates, so this choice is false.
Overall, the reasoning highlights why DNA serves as the primary molecular clock in this context, while the other options miss the key idea or misstate the biology.

What can be used as a molecular clock to estimate the time since organisms diverged from a common ancestor?

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