LOURDES COLLEGE

Higher Education Department

Investigative Analysis #5A

(Comparing Amino Acid Sequences)
Name: Agcopra, Pearl Marie Sabaiton Score: _____
Section: [ ]

One of the recent evidences of evolution that reinforces the fossil records comes from molecular biology. By using the
technique called amino acid sequencing, researchers have discovered that closely related organisms have great similarity in
their amino acid sequences, indicating a common descent. In this activity, you will determine the degree of relatedness
among some species based on their amino acid sequences of cytochrome-c.

Objective
Compare the amino acid sequences of cytochrome-c for some organisms and calculate the degree of relatedness
among some species based on the amino acid sequences of cytochrome-c their proteins.

Materials
none

Procedure
1. Refer to the following table of amino acid sequences of cytochrome-c. Compare the amino acid sequences of the
following pairs of organisms by encircling the portions of the sequences where they differ. For each pair, count the
total number of differing amino acids.
a. Human and Chimpanzee (0) d. Chicken and Turkey (0)
b. Human and Rhesus monkey (1) e. Rattlesnake and Fruit fly (14)
c. Horse and Donkey (3)

Amino Acid Sequences of Cytochrome-c

Human GDVEKGKKIFIMKCSQCHTVEKGGKHKTGPNLHGLFGRRTGQPAPGYSYTAANKNKGIIWG (61)

Chimpanzee GDVEKGKKIFIMKCSQCHTVEKGGKHKTGPNLHGLFGRRTGQPAPGYSYTAANKNKGIIWG (61)

Rhesus monkey GDVEKGKKIFIMKCSQCHTVEKGGKHKTGPNLHGLFGRRTGQPAPGYSYTAANKNKGITWG (61)

Horse GDVEKGKKIFVQCAQCHTVEKGGKHKTGPNLHGLFGRKTGQAPGFTYTDANKNKGITWK (59)

Donkey GDVEKGKKIFVQKCAQCHTVEKGGKHKTGPNLHGLFGRKTGQAPGFYSYTDANKNKGITWG
(61)

Chicken GDIEKGKKIFVQKCQCHTVEKGGKHKTGPNLHGLFGRKTGQAEGFSYTDANKNKGITWG (59)

Turkey GDIEKGKKIFVQKCQCHTVEKGGKHKTGPNLHGLFGRKTGQAEGFSYTDANKNKGITWG (59)

Rattlesnake GDVEKGKKIFTMKCSQCHTVEKGGKHKTGPNLHGLFGRKTGQAVGYSYTAANKNKGITWG (60)

Fruit fly GDVEKGKKLFVQRCAQCHTVEAGGKHKVGPNLHGLIGRKTGQAAGFAYTNANKAKGITWQ (60)

 2. Calculate the percentage difference between the species of each pair by dividing the number of differing amino acids
by the total number of amino acids in the sequences of the pair.
3. Record your data.

Data and Observations

Human and Human and Horse and Chicken and Rattle snake
Chimpanzee Rhesus monkey Donkey Turkey and Fruit fly
Number of Differing
Amino Acids in 0 1 3 0 14
Cytochrome-c

Percentage Difference 0% 0.82% 2.5% 0% 11.66%

Questions for Analysis

1. Which pair of organisms are most closely related? The least related? How do your results compare with the
taxonomic classification of the organisms?
The pair that are most closely related are human-chimpanzee and chicken-turkey. If we are too look into
the taxonomic classification of organisms, the paired organisms belong to the same classification but due to
evolution their physical features changes.

2. How will you interpret those pairs of organisms having the exact amino acid sequence of cytochrome-c?
Based from the example of amino acids for human-chimpanzee and with 0 percentage difference, the two
organism are close to each other. Human is related to chimpanzee and vice versa. As for the chicken-turkey,
the two are related to each other. They belong to the same kingdom (animalia), phyulum (chordata), class
(aves), family (phasianidae), and genus (gallus).

Conclusion
Based from the data, human-chimpanzee, chicken-turkey and human-rhesus monkey are related/closely related to
each other. Rattle snake-fruit fly are far from related to each to each other.

Exploring Further

Do you think that amino acid sequencing is a reliable basis for determining evolutionary relationships among
organisms? Justify your answer.
Yes. It helps determine the organisms’ similarity by comparing the type and sequence of the amino acids.
The higher the similarity the higher the chances of the relationship between the two.

This Activity is Adapted from:

Mañosa, Susan D. and Talaue, Frederick T.
“Breaking Through Biology: Laboratory Manual – Comparing Amino Acid Sequences”
pp.67-69. C and E Publishing, 2007.