The FASEB Journal, Vol 7, 113-123, Copyright © 1993 by The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology

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Ribosomal RNA: a key to phylogeny

GJ Olsen and CR Woese
Department of Microbiology, University of Illinois, Urbana 61801.

As molecular phylogeny increasingly shapes our understanding of organismal relationships, no molecule has been applied to more questions than have ribosomal RNAs. We review this role of the rRNAs and some of the insights that have been gained from them. We also offer some of the practical considerations in extracting the phylogenetic information from the sequences. Finally, we stress the importance of comparing results from multiple molecules, both as a method for testing the overall reliability of the organismal phylogeny and as a method for more broadly exploring the history of the genome.

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