In: Biology
Explain how shared, conserved, fundamental processes and features support the concept of common ancestry for all organisms. (Use the terms below)
Genetic information
ribosomes
Genetic code
Metabolic pathways
The very first character which supports the concept of common ancestry for all the organisms is the presence of genetic material DNA. DNA is the genetic material in all the organisms, be it unicellular prokaryote or multicellular eukaryote.
The second character which supports this concept is the presence of ribosomes. Ribosomes are protein factories. They are membrane less organelles which are involved in the process of translation. The composition of ribosomes is different in prokaryotes and eukaryotes, but they are present in both the cell point in prokaryotes, 70s type ribosomes are present and in eukaryotes 80s type ribosomes are present.
The third essential feature of common ancestry is the presence of a common genetic code. Genetic code is triplet in nature. It is also repetitive and degenerate. This genetic code is used by almost all the organisms, prokaryotes and eukaryotes. There are certain exceptions to mitochondria and organisms like plasmodium. But the similarity is much more greater between all the organisms on the basis of genetic code then these exceptions.
The last thing which connects all the organisms is the metabolic Pathways. According to Central dogma of Molecular Biology, the flow of information is from DNA to RNA and then to proteins and processes involved are DNA replication transcription and translation. There is no exception to the central dogma of Molecular Biology accept for viruses and all the prokaryotes and eukaryotes use all these three processes for the flow of information in them.
Therefore all these four characteristics of connect prokaryotes and eukaryotes together.