Creating Phylogenetic Trees from DNA Sequences

This interactive module shows how DNA sequences can be used to infer evolutionary relationships among organisms and represent them as phylogenetic trees.

Phylogenetic trees are diagrams of evolutionary relationships among organisms. Scientists can estimate these relationships by studying the organisms’ DNA sequences. As the organisms evolve and diverge, their DNA sequences accumulate mutations. Scientists compare these mutations using sequence alignments to reconstruct evolutionary history.

The accompanying “Worksheet” guides students’ exploration of the Click & Learn.

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