Judged by the average number of nucleotide-pair differences per 1000 nucleotide pairs, which of the following pairs show the highest difference?
A) The genomes of S. cerevisiae and M. musculus
B) The genomes of two different E. coli strains
C) The ribosomal RNA genes from human and E. coli
D) The transfer RNA genes in a human and M. musculus
E) The genomes of two humans

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Mostly due to horizontal gene transfers, different strains of bacteria can vary wildly in their genomic sequences; however, the difference between the whole genomes of two species as distantly related as the budding yeast and the mouse is by far greater. In comparison, two human individuals differ in a few nucleotide pairs per 1000 nucleotide pairs of their genome. Genes such as ribosomal RNA genes are highly conserved and show a significant identity even between H. sapiens and E. coli.

Judged by the Average Number of Nucleotide-Pair Differences Per 1000