Question

svante pääbo and other researchers studying the history of organisms have long utilized ancient dna—dna recovered from ancient organic material that has been preserved under natural conditions. however, j. mason heberling and david j. burkes 2019 study of the evolutionary trajectory of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi instead relied on historical dna—genomic data incidentally preserved in specimens that are housed in natural history collections—thus capitalizing on the research potential offered by a vast but hitherto relatively underutilized source of insight into the biological past. which choice best describes the function of underlined sentence in the text as a whole? a) it specifies potential applications of the approach that heberling and burke used in their study. b) it explains why the research methodology selected by heberling and burke is not widely used. c) it emphasizes the importance of heberling and burke’s findings about the dna of fungi. d) it offers commentary on the significance of the approach that heberling and burke used for their study.

Explanation:

The underlined sentence comments on the significance of Heberling and Burke's approach of using historical DNA from natural - history - collection specimens, highlighting its potential as an underutilized source for understanding the biological past.

Answer:

D. It offers commentary on the significance of the approach that Heberling and Burke used for their study.