Mapping Phylogenetic Trees to Reveal Distinct Patterns of Evolution. (24th June 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Kendall, Michelle; Colijn, Caroline
• Is Part Of: Molecular biology and evolution. Volume 33:Number 10(2016:Oct.)
• Page Start: 2735
• Page End: 2743
• Publication Date: 2016-06-24
• Subjects: Molecular biology -- Periodicals; Molecular evolution -- Periodicals; Evolution, Molecular -- Periodicals; Molecular Biology -- Periodicals; 572.8
• DOI: 10.1093/molbev/msw124
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0737-4038

Abstract

Abstract: Evolutionary relationships are frequently described by phylogenetic trees, but a central barrier in many fields is the difficulty of interpreting data containing conflicting phylogenetic signals. We present a metric-based method for comparing trees which extracts distinct alternative evolutionary relationships embedded in data. We demonstrate detection and resolution of phylogenetic uncertainty in a recent study of anole lizards, leading to alternate hypotheses about their evolutionary relationships. We use our approach to compare trees derived from different genes of Ebolavirus and find that the VP30 gene has a distinct phylogenetic signature composed of three alternatives that differ in the deep branching structure. Key words: phylogenetics, evolution, tree metrics, genetics, sequencing.