molecular clock

American  

noun

1. the changes in the amino acid sequences of proteins that take place during evolution and speciation, and from which the dates of branchings of taxonomic groups can be deduced.

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Example Sentences

They also used a technique known as an 'epigenetic molecular clock' to estimate the age of individual whales.

From Science Daily

"Fungi were a great subject of study, because the scarcity of fossil records meant that our approach provided significant added value. The next challenge is to extend these techniques to all eukaryotes to develop a much finer molecular clock for all complex life," Ocaña said.

From Science Daily

Based on genetic data calibrated by fossils, the researchers performed "molecular clock analyses."

From Science Daily

"This deep dive into the phylogenomic framework and our molecular clock unveiled Klebsormidiophyceae's ancient ancestor -- a multicellular entity thriving millions of years ago whose descendants began to split into three distinct branches over 800 million years ago," says Maaike Bierenbroodspot, PhD researcher in Applied Bioinformatics, University of Göttingen.

From Science Daily

Using the estimated mutation rates of the bovine virus and OC43, they created a molecular clock and calculated that the two viruses shared a common ancestor somewhere around 1890.

From Science Magazine