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.

The “Resource Google Folder” link directs to a Google Drive folder of resource documents in the Google Docs format. Not all downloadable documents for the resource may be available in this format. The Google Drive folder is set as “View Only”; to save a copy of a document in this folder to your Google Drive, open that document, then select File → “Make a copy.” These documents can be copied, modified, and distributed online following the Terms of Use listed in the “Details” section below, including crediting BioInteractive.