Using the phylogeny of HIV-1, HIV-2 and two strains of SIV to understand the evolution of HIV with a goal to identifying the most closely related SIV strain to the more severe HIV-1 strain. The second of these was the use of genomic DNA sequences to reconstruct the phylogeny of domestic dog breeds to understand which breeds were isolated first and perhaps give insight into the first dedicated tasks dogs were bred for.
Think of another evolutionary question and describe how the use of phylogenetics can be used to address this question. This question must be more than just, "how are these species related?" it must address a more interesting question about the evolutionary process (i.e., the dog study) or provide a phylogeny that has a practical application (i.e., the HIV study).
Can't do these studies because already taken:
• The HIV study
• The dog study
• When did humans start wearing clothing
• Tracking disease transmission in outbreaks
• Arrector pili muscle
• Non hibernating grey squirrels
• Humans and tails
• Mammals and the appendix
• Mustelidaes going back into the water
• Echolocation: bats vs cetaceans
• Sirenia and fingernails
• Trees and enzymes
• Whale ankles
• Turtle study
• Tiktaalik and platypus(ancestors and descendents)
• Zika virus
• Arctic wooly bear caterpillar
• California grunion, leuresthes tenuis and their unique breeding
• E. coli strains