Ateam of scientists is studying a mitochondrial dna sequence shared by two species, and they determine that the dna has a constant mutation rate. the dna sequences of the two species are shown below. species a: gtaggcattcgat species b: gcacgcatacgtt the scientists use the idea of molecular clocks to determine that the two species diverged from a common ancestor 40 million years ago. based on this information, how much more time would it take for the two species to differ by a total of 10 base pairs? 80 million years 200 million years 60 million years 40 million years

The correct answer would be 60 million years.

The molecular clock is a technique used to determine the time when the two species diverged from a common ancestor. It uses the mutation rate to determine the same.

Mutation rate is the rate at which a number of mutations take place in a given unit time.

If we compare the DNA sequence of the given two species, we would find that four mutations have taken place in forty million years.

Species A: GTAGGCATTCGAT  

Species B: GCACGCATACGTT  

Thus, the mutation rate of the species is one mutation per 10 million years.

The DNA sequences already have 4 mutations. Thus, for a total of 10 mutations, 6 mutations are required.

Thus, in 60 million years the two DNA sequences would differ by a total of  10 nucleotides.

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