ABSTRACT

The interest in evolution and phylogeny has been constant and has evolved in parallel with our knowledge in other areas in biology. The reproducible results clearly establish that restriction analysis is a useful tool to study phylogenetic relationships of fungal species. Homology, that is structural, physiological, or behavioral similarity, has been used as a criterion in establishing phylogenetic relationships between organisms. Direct comparison of homologous DNA sequences enables us to evaluate the extent of sequence divergence in various functional and structural units of the genome. Another aspect of the genome that has been extensively investigated in the eukaryotic genome is the organization of the repetitive sequences in the DNA. The modification of genes through transposition is another event which occurs in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Sometimes mutations occur in the regulatory gene which control the transcription of the gene and thereby derepress their synthesis; consequently, the enzyme is oversynthesized.