8. Suppose you are studying a recently discovered population of rock pocket mice with

dark-colored fur that lives on volcanic rock. You take a DNA sample from a member of this new

population and determine the DNA sequence of a gene known to play a role in fur color. The

sequence you get is identical to that of the same gene in another rock pocket mouse population

with dark-colored fur that lives on a different patch of volcanic rock. Whhat could explain this

observation.

This observation might indicate that both groups form part of the same population (i. e., they have the same origin).

Explanation:

Perfect sequence homology in the gene associated with dark-colored fur might indicate that both groups of rock pocket mice form part of the same evolutionary unit, and thereby they share 100% sequence homology. Moreover, it is important to note that this information should be complemented with other observations and further molecular analyses to confirm that both groups form part of the same population.