# DBT JRF 2020 — Question 125

Exam: DBT JRF 2020 · Section: B · Topic: Bioinformatics · Difficulty: Easy

## Question

Phylogenetic tree provides information about

## Options

- **A.** ecological relationships between organisms
- **B.** evolutionary relationships between organisms
- **C.** none of the given options
- **D.** environmental relationships between organisms

## Answer

Option B

## Explanation

A phylogenetic tree (cladogram or phylogram) reconstructs and displays the EVOLUTIONARY HISTORY and RELATIONSHIPS among organisms, genes, or proteins. Key components: Root — the common ancestor of all taxa in the tree; Nodes (branching points) — represent common ancestors; Branch lengths — in phylograms, proportional to amount of evolutionary change (substitutions/site) or time; Clades (monophyletic groups) — an ancestor and all its descendants. Information conveyed: relatedness between species (closer on tree = more recent common ancestor); timing of divergence (molecular clock); horizontal gene transfer events; reconstructed ancestral states. Phylogenetic trees do NOT directly provide ecological or environmental relationship information (that is the domain of ecology/biogeography). Methods: Maximum Parsimony, Maximum Likelihood, Bayesian inference, neighbour-joining.

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