Question

All organisms undergo glycolysis as a part of cellular respiration. This process is nearly the same in organisms from all three of life's domains: Archaea, Bacteria, and Eukarya.
Which of the following ideas is supported by this statement?

• A. All living organisms use aerobic respiration to extract energy from food molecules.
• B. All living organisms utilize mitochondria to perform cellular respiration.
• C. All organisms produce the majority of the ATP they use from the process of glycolysis.
• D. All organisms must have a common ancestor since all three domains perform this process.
• E. All organisms use anaerobic respiration exclusively to produce ATP during cellular respiration.

Answer 1

The correct option is D All organisms must have a common ancestor since all three domains perform this process.

There are 3 domains in the universal phylogenetic tree of life. These are Bacteria, Archaea and Eukarya. This tree is constructed on the basis of comparison between ribosomal RNA sequencing and evolutionary relationships. Glycolysis is the first metabolic pathway in cellular respiration during which one molecule of glucose is broken down to two molecules of pyruvate. The organisms belonging to all these domains show similarity in glycolysis they have a common ancestor as shown in the phylogenetic tree. Thus the correct answer is option D.