(D) in highly diverged lineages, substitutions will occur at sites that have been substituted previously is the reason why the molecular clock has limited usefulness for estimating divergence times among species in part due to the saturation of dna sequences.
The number of modifications or mutations that have taken place in a lineage of organisms' DNA or protein sequences is represented by the frequency of a molecular clock. It can be used to determine roughly when two lineages split apart historically.
However, in highly diverse lineages, alterations could take place more more once for a specific spot (i.e., those lineages that were divided extremely far back in evolutionary time). Therefore, it won't be helpful for estimating divergence times among species, in part due to the saturation of DNA sequences.
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Question correction:
The molecular clock has limited usefulness for estimating divergence times among species in part due to the saturation of DNA sequences. This occurs because
A. DNA sequences are unable to revert back to previous allelic states.
B. the variation in the substitution rate between closely related lineages prevents accurate estimation of divergence time.
C. variation in population sizes among lineages changes the effect of genetic drift.
D. in highly diverged lineages, substitutions will occur at sites that have been substituted previously.
