The 16S rRNA gene is used for phylogenetic studies as it is highly conserved between different species of bacteria and archaea. ... It is suggested that 16S rRNA gene can be used as a reliable molecular clock because 16S rRNA sequences from distantly related bacterial lineages are shown to have similar functionalities.
Small subunit rRNA genes (16S and 18S) have both conserved and variable (the so called V1, V2, etc.) regions.
It is the conserved regions that allow us to obtain plausible alignments, even between very distantly related taxa.
The variable parts of the marker (which, conveniently, are located between the conserved ones) allow us to differentiate highly related taxa.
Hi Dr. Maitham Ghaly Yousif
16S rRNA genes are ribosomes can't translate mRNA without their 16S rRNA component, so all bacteria have it. Because these genes are essential.
There are many good reasons to use 16S rRNA sequences for bacterial identification and classification. However, there are also many good reasons why 16S alone is not the solution to every question about bacterial evolution. For one example, Snippen and Ussery 2010 (linked below) showed that even within a single genus of bacteria (Streptococcus in this example) the 16S gene sequences can give a very different view of the phylogeny than is obtained with larger collections of genes.
Article Standard operating procedure for computing pangenome trees
Small subunit rRNA genes (16S and 18S) have both conserved and variable (the so called V1, V2, etc.) regions.
It is the conserved regions that allow us to obtain plausible alignments, even between very distantly related taxa.
The variable parts of the marker (which, conveniently, are located between the conserved ones) allow us to differentiate highly related taxa.
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