OBSERVATIONS: Step 2: Download the sequences of the four gene samples taken from the unknown fossil. These can be found on my website under the & Lab Notebook’ link. ‘Labs Step 3: Use the following website for your genetic analysis— BLAST use this website to compare gene sequences with genomic DNA from representative – organism in a data base. Step 4: Go to the BLAST website. Under BLAST’, click on blast.’ Copy-and-paste the ‘Basic ‘nucleotide gene sequence for FOSSIL GENE 1 into the Query Sequence’ box on the BLAST webpage. Under ‘Enter Search Set- database,’ make sure that (nr etc.)” is selected. Under Selection,’ ‘Choose “others ‘Program make sure that similar sequences (megablast)” is selected. “Highly Then, click the blue button to search for gene sequences in different species that are “BLAST” similar to the unknown fossil gene sequence. Step 5: When the results of the BLAST sequence comparison appear, scroll down to the section entitled producing significant alignments.’ The species in the list that appears below this section are ‘sequences those with sequences identical to (or most similar to) the gene of interest. The most similar sequences are listed first. You’ll need to click on the particular species listed and the link, where you’ll find ‘accession’ more info that includes the common name of the species, the # of nucleotides that match between the gene of interest and the known organism, etc. Using the information from your results, complete TABLE 1. REPEAT STEPS 4 & 5 FOR ALL FOUR FOSSIL GENES. TABLE 1 Fossil Most closely related Most closely related Number of % Next TWO most closely “Max Gene organism (genus and species (common Score” matching nucleotide related organisms # species name) name) nucleotides match (common only) (fossil gene (“Max vs. organism Identity”) gene) 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / Step 6: Based on what you’ve learned from the sequence analysis and what you know from the fossil structure itself, decide where the new fossil species belongs on the cladogram. Mark (and label) your results on the cladogram so that you may compare your results w/ your hypothesis.
OBSERVATIONS: Step 2: Download the sequences of the four gene samples taken from the unknown fossil. These can be found on my website under the ‘Labs & Lab Notebook’ link. Step 3: Use the following website for your genetic analysis— BLAST – use this website to compare gene sequences with genomic DNA from representative organism in a data base. Step 4: Go to the BLAST website. Under ‘Basic BLAST’, click on ‘nucleotide blast.’ Copy-and-paste the gene sequence for FOSSIL GENE 1 into the ‘Enter Query Sequence’ box on the BLAST webpage. Under ‘Choose Search Set- database,’ make sure that “others (nr etc.)” is selected. Under ‘Program Selection,’ make sure that “Highly similar sequences (megablast)” is selected. Then, click the blue “BLAST” button to search for gene sequences in different species that are similar to the unknown fossil gene sequence. Step 5: When the results of the BLAST sequence comparison appear, scroll down to the section entitled ‘sequences producing significant alignments.’ The species in the list that appears below this section are those with sequences identical to (or most similar to) the gene of interest. The most similar sequences are listed first. You’ll need to click on the particular species listed and the ‘accession’ link, where you’ll find more info that includes the common name of the species, the # of nucleotides that match between the gene of interest and the known organism, etc. Using the information from your results, complete TABLE 1. REPEAT STEPS 4 & 5 FOR ALL FOUR FOSSIL GENES. TABLE 1 Fossil Gene # Most closely related organism (genus and species name) Most closely related species (common name) “Max Score” Number of matching nucleotides (fossil gene vs. organism gene) % nucleotide match (“Max Identity”) Next TWO most closely related organisms (common only) 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / Step 6: Based on what you’ve learned from the sequence analysis and what you know from the fossil structure itself, decide where the new fossil species belongs on the cladogram. Mark (and label) your results on the cladogram so that you may compare your results w/ your hypothesis.