Since an animal cell and a plant cell are very similar(having many of the same organelles) is it safe to assume that tomatoes and humans were once one race?
2007-10-22 05:25:23 · 28 answers · asked by Love Yahoo!!! is a prince 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Actually no, I had biology class today and wondered that, but was afraid to ask my teacher.
2007-10-22 05:30:27 · update #1
YAY!! lol...I got the whole animal evolution...but I was confused about this part...thanks!
2007-10-22 05:37:02 · update #2
Common descent, yes. It's less of an assumption, and more of a conclusion.
2007-10-22 05:28:25 · answer #1 · answered by Eleventy 6 · 13⤊ 1⤋
Yes, the commonality of structures, organelles, and even DNA sequences indicate that animals (such as us) and plants (such as tomatoes) did indeed at one time have a common ancestor, from whom we both inherited these shared characteristics.
The differences, genetic distance, and fossil evidence indicate that this common ancestor was a long, long, long time ago, and was not terribly similar to either a tomato or a human itself. In fact it was most likely a single-celled organism, possibly similar to an amoeba or Euglena, and the split probably occurred some 2 to 3 billion years ago.
2007-10-22 12:34:19 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 6⤊ 0⤋
If you mean descended from a common ancestor that was neither human nor tomato, then yes.
The fact that this fits very nicely with evolutionary theory as it existed long before such DNA analysis was possible goes a long way to supporting evolutionary theory -- a good scientific theory makes testable predictions, and then good scientists test them.
Common-ancestor evolution would predict a lot of common genes, and in fact, once tests are developed, that turns out to be true.
You might almost call it a "fulfilled prophecy."
2007-10-22 12:35:15 · answer #3 · answered by mianmannoi 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Sort of, yes. It's more accurate to say that humans and tomatos share a very distant acenstor though as saying that they were once the same species can result in some people taking it literally (eg: "I was never and never will be a tomato!")
2007-10-23 07:02:54 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
evolution occurs in different directions... each life form to solve a problem or answer a question... humans are animals and tomatoes are plants... plants can live without humans but humans can not live without plants... which is more important to the whole of earth? Plant life of course...
2007-10-22 12:33:16 · answer #5 · answered by Gyspy 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Once again - they have a common ancestor, a single-celled organism..
But the most recent common plant/animal cell is VERY ancient.
CD
2007-10-22 12:30:54 · answer #6 · answered by Super Atheist 7 · 8⤊ 0⤋
Yes, as long as you don't expect that one race to be anything larger than a single cell. Otherwise, you run into problems.
2007-10-22 12:34:42 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
No, but it is fair to assume that they descended from a common ancestor somewhere far, far back along the evolutionary chain.
Once each organism reached the point that it had the definable characteristics of its classification, both species had already diverged millions of years before.
2007-10-22 12:29:27 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 9⤊ 0⤋
And people say that public education is a waste of time. Congrats on starting to understand.
2007-10-22 12:38:50 · answer #9 · answered by S K 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
yes,you are starting to get it.Now,simply add eggplants,rice,kangaroos,dinosaurs,
potatoes and every living thing that ever existed,and you really get it.Everything came from a common ancestor.Plants branched off from animals early in the game,but all life is related
2007-10-22 12:32:50 · answer #10 · answered by nobodinoze 5 · 4⤊ 0⤋
Yep. Humans have 50% common DNA with a banana.
2007-10-22 12:29:25 · answer #11 · answered by Anonymous · 10⤊ 0⤋