Question:5. It is possible for two different genes to imply different phylogeneticrelationships among a group of species. What are the possible reasons for this?If there is only one true history of formation of these species, what might wedo in order to determine which (if either) gene accurately portrays thathistory? Is it possible for both phylogenetic trees to be accurate even ifthere has been only one history of species divergence? Dueto lineage or allele sorting, it is possible for two different genes to implydifferent phylogenetic relationships among a group of species. Alleles can berandomly determined at a particular gene loci which are passed from anancestral species to a descendant species through a technique that does notdemonstrate the process of speciation. This is remarkably achievable in swiftlyradiating species groups.
Another instance could be the distinguishingtransmission of alleles at one gene locus, but not at another gene locusthrough horizontal gene transfer or hybridization of nuclear DNA. Hybridizationof nuclear DNA and horizontal gene transfer occurs habitually in prokaryotes. When attempting to determine whichgene accurately portrays that history we might use a technique commonly knownas “mapping”. Mapping is a process that identifies the distance between thegenes and the locus of a gene. It is best to use as many characters as possiblewhen using the mapping technique.
Making use of a small sample size could leadto misleading evidence, and does not give future researchers much to work with. Using a large sample size can providemore data for researchers to work with. Mapping character states allows one tocompare the different states of each gene being studied, and it can assist in tracingit back to the root of the entire tree. I believe that it is possible forboth phylogenetic trees to be accurate even if there has been only one historyof species divergence due to the fact that a phylogenetic trees are mostlyhypothesized. A phylogenetic tree is based upon on a hypothesized belief that arelationship among different species based on evidence stating that specieshave emerged from common ancestors.
Therefore, if more than one of the genetrees have evidence to support their belief their phylogenetic tree can appearto be accurate until proven otherwise.
