A biologist finds out that the fruit fly, Drosophila, makes a protein in its eyes that has a very similar structure when compared to a human protein that was just discovered in the newly sequenced human genome. The biologist concludes that the human protein might be important for the proper development and working of the human eye. Which unifying theme in biology is illustrated in this example?

Question

Biology

Barnett

25 June, 11:27

A biologist finds out that the fruit fly, Drosophila, makes a protein in its eyes that has a very similar structure when compared to a human protein that was just discovered in the newly sequenced human genome. The biologist concludes that the human protein might be important for the proper development and working of the human eye. Which unifying theme in biology is illustrated in this example?

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Answers (2)

Know the Answer?

Fernanda Escobar · Answer 1

The correct answer will be - comparative genomics.

Explanation:

Comparative genomics is a fundamental tool in which the DNA sequence and the whole gene set of a genome of two different organisms are compared.

The comparison is done to measure the difference and common genomic features by comparison of gene order, gene loss, horizontal gene transfer, duplication and gene regulation.

Since in the given question, the genome of Drosophila and the humans were compared to identify the conserved functional elements throughout genome therefore, comparative genomics is the correct answer.

Charlize Moses · Answer 2

The unifying theme is Genetics.

Explanation:

The area of biology illustrated in this example is Genetics as it is a study comparing a common protein that is encoded by both Drosophila DNA and human DNA.

We must remember that the genetic code is a universal code, therefore, the molecular structure of DNA is the same in all living beings, thus allowing comparative studies between different species.