Letter M

Molecular phylogenetics

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The determination of the rates and patterns of change occurring in DNA and proteins in order to reconstruct the evolutionary history of genes and organisms.

Two general approaches may be taken to obtain this information.

In the first approach, DNA is used to study the evolution of an organism.

In the second approach, different organisms are used to study the evolution of DNA.

Whatever the approach, the general goal is to infer process from pattern: the processes of organismal evolution deduced from patterns of DNA variation and processes of molecular evolution inferred from the patterns of variations in the DNA itself.

See also: Phylogenetics

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