Question

researchers studying populations of lizards from the genus gallotia on the canary islands compared the protein cytochrome b in different populations. the table shows the number of differences in the cytochrome b protein between different populations. changes in cytochrome b which conclusion about the relatedness of the lizards do these data support? a g. atlantica and g. stehlini are the least closely related. b g. simonyi and g. bravoana are the most closely related. c g. galloti eisentrauti and g. galloti palmae are the most closely related.

Explanation:

In biology, when comparing relatedness using protein differences (like cytochrome b here), fewer differences indicate a closer relationship. Let's check each option:

• Option A: For \(G. atlantic\) and \(G. stchlin\), the difference is \(36\). But there are other pairs with larger differences (e.g., \(G. simonyi\) and \(G. stchlin\) has a difference of \(49\)). So this is incorrect.
• Option B: For \(G. simonyi\) and \(G. bravoana\), the difference is \(4\), which is the smallest among all non - grey (non - self - comparison) values in the table.
• Option C: For \(G. galloti eisentrauti\) and \(G. galloti palmae\), the difference is \(8\), which is larger than the difference between \(G. simonyi\) and \(G. bravoana\) (\(4\)). So this is incorrect.

Answer:

B. \(G. simonyi\) and \(G. bravoana\) are the most closely related.