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People are familiar with DNA because of its well-publicized role in predicting and preventing disease, cloning plants and animals, and solving crimes.
But Field Museum scientists study DNA for a different reason: to understand the evolution of Earth’s diversity and protect it.
Clarifying Relationships through DNA
Before DNA research, scientists could only determine the relationships between species by comparing physical traits, or what organisms look like. Today, DNA research is used in combination with the examination of physical attributes.
In the Museum’s Pritzker Laboratory for Molecular Systematics and Evolution, researchers analyze and compare the genetic sequences of thousands of species. Those with similar sequences are closely related.
 Tracing the Family Tree
Studying DNA and genes sometimes confirms scientists’ assumptions. For example, humans and chimpanzees not only look similar, it turns out that they share 97.8% of their DNA sequences.
And sometimes, DNA can lead deep into the evolutionary past. You might not think you have much in common with a fruit fly, but the same genes that control the development of your eyes and limbs are at work in this tiny, two-winged insect. This is evidence that we share a distant common ancestor.
Species by species, Field Museum scientists and collaborators are drawing in the branches of the Tree of Life. These branches map the relationships between all the species on Earth—millions upon millions of creatures built from the same four chemical bases of DNA.
Continue to How Do We Analyze DNA? >>
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