Las 6 1

LEARNING ACTIVITY SHEET
QUARTER 3 – WEEK 6
EVOLUTIONARY RELATIONSHIPS AMONG ORGANISMS
Objective: Infer evolutionary relationship among organisms using the evidence of evolution.
Lesson Overview: One technique used to determine evolutionary relationship is to study the
biochemical similarity of organism. Biologist believe that the greater the similarity between the
DNA and amino acid sequence of two organisms, the closer their relationship. Conversely, the
greater the differences, the more distant the relationship.
Activity 1 Investigating Common Descent

Materials: 4 sets of blue, green, red and yellow paper clips or chips. Each different color of
paper clips or chips represent one of the four bases of DNA.
22 blue = Adenine (A)
16 green = Guanine (G) A G C T
32 red = Cytosine (C)
10 yellow = Thymine (T)
Procedure:
1. Develop three hypotheses to explain how gorillas, chimpanzee and human are related. You can
make a diagram of your hypothesis by drawing lines from point A (common ancestor) to each of
the three organisms’ gorillas, chimpanzee and human.
(Suggested Pattern)
2. Synthesized a strand of “human DNA” that has

the following sequence
A – G – G – C – A – T – A – A – A – C – C – A – A – C – C – G – A – T – T – A = human DNA
3. Synthesized a strand of “chimpanzee DNA” that has the following sequence
A – G – G – C – C – C – C – T – T – C – C – A – A – C – C – G – A – T – T – A = chimpanzee DNA
4. Synthesized a strand of “gorilla DNA” that has the following sequence
A – G – G – C – C – C – C – T – T – C – C – A – A – C – C – A – G – G – C – C = gorilla DNA
5. Synthesized a strand of “common ancestor DNA” that has the following sequence
A – G – G – C – C– G – G – C – T – C – C – A – A – C – C – A – G – G – C – C = common ancestor DNA
6. Compare the human DNA to chimpanzee DNA by matching the strands. Count the number of bases that
match as well as does that are not match. Record the data in table 1. Repeat these steps with the human
and gorilla DNA.
Table 1
Human DNA compared to Number of Matches Unmatched bases
Chimpanzee DNA
Gorilla DNA
Guide Question:
1. How do the gorilla DNA and chimpanzee DNA compare with human DNA?
__________________________________________________________________________
2. What do these data suggest about the relationship between human, gorillas, and
chimpanzees?
__________________________________________________________________________
3. Do the data support any of your hypothesis? Why or why not?
___________________________________________________________________________
7. Compare the common ancestor DNA to all three samples of DNA (gorilla, human and chimpanzee) one
sample at a time. Record the data In Table 2
Table 2
Common Ancestor DNA
Number of Matches Unmatched bases
compared to
Human DNA
Chimpanzee DNA
Gorilla DNA
4. Which DNA is most similar to the common ancestor DNA?

____________________________________________________________________________________________
5. Which two DNAs were most similar in the way that they compare to the common ancestor DNA?
____________________________________________________________________________________________
6. Based on the hypothesis that your data best supported, which of the following statements is most
accurate. Explain your answer.
a) Human and apes have a common ancestor.
b) Human evolved from apes
7. According to all the data collected, which of the following statement is most accurate? Explain your
answer.
a) Chimpanzees and human have a common ancestor
b) Chimpanzees are the direct ancestor of human
Activity 2 Who’s Related to Whom
Part I Comparing amino acid sequences
1. Examine Figure 1, which compares corresponding portions of hemoglobin molecules in humans
and five other vertebrate animals. Hemoglobin, a protein composed of several long chains of
amino acids, is the oxygen-carrying molecule in red blood cells. The sequence shown is only a
portion of a chain made up of 146 amino acids. The numbers in Figure 1 indicate the position of
a particular amino acid in the chain.
2. In Data Table 1 (next page), notice that the abbreviated names of the amino acids in human
hemoglobin are printed.
3. In the appropriate spaces in Data Table 1, write the abbreviated name of each amino acid in
chimpanzee hemoglobin that is different from that in human hemoglobin. If there are no
differences, leave the spaces blank.
4. For the remaining organisms, write the abbreviated names of the amino acids that do not
correspond to those in human hemoglobin.
Note: Always be sure that you compare the amino acid sequence of each organism with that of
the human and not the organism on the line above.
5. Use Figure 1 to complete Data Table 2.
Analysis and Conclusions for Part I: Use Figure 1 to answer questions 1 and 2.
1. On the basis of the hemoglobin similarity, what organisms appear to be most closely related to
humans? Justify your answer.
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
2. Among the organisms that you compared, which one appears to be least closely related to
humans? Justify your answer.
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Part II Inferring Evolutionary Relationship from Differences in Amino Acid Sequence
1. Another commonly studied protein is cytochrome c. This protein, consisting of 104 amino acids,
is located in the mitochondria of cells. There it functions as a respiratory enzyme. Examine
Figure 2. Using human cytochrome c as a standard, the amino acid differences between humans
and a number of other organisms are shown.
2. Using Figure 2, construct a bar graph on Graph 1 to show the amino acid differences between
human and other organisms.
3. Now examine Figure 3. In this figure the cytochrome c of a fruit fly is used as a standard in
comparing amino acid differences among several organisms. Construct a bar graph on Graph 2
to show these differences.
Analysis and Conclusions for Part I: Use Figure 1 and Figure 2 to answer questions 1 through 9.
1. On the basis of differences in cytochrome c, which organisms appear to be most closely related
to humans?
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
2. Which are organisms appear to be least closely related to humans?

______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
Prepared by: NAPOLEON Y. ARENAS

Master Teacher II

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LEARNING ACTIVITY SHEET

Activity 1 Investigating Common Descent

2. Synthesized a strand of “human DNA” that has

4. Which DNA is most similar to the common ancestor DNA?

2. Which are organisms appear to be least closely related to humans?

Prepared by: NAPOLEON Y. ARENAS

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