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Structural biology and phylogenetic estimation

Nature volume 388, pages 527–528 (1997)Cite this article

Abstract

When reconstructing evolutionary trees from DNA sequences, it is often assumed that increasing the amount of sequence will improve the phylogenetic estimate1,2. This is based on the notion that historical ‘signal’ will rise above misleading ‘noise’ as more sequence is gathered. Our analysis of mitochondrial genomes fails to support this assumption, but suggests a way to select objectively for data with maximum ‘signal-to-noise’ potential.

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Figure 1: The widely accepted pattern of relationships for the 19 taxa analysed.
Figure 2: Relationship between functional characteristics and phylogenetic fit of a site for the accepted tree.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology and Genetics, Iowa State University, Ames, 50011, Iowa, USA

    Gavin J. P. Naylor

  2. Department of Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 48109-1048, Michigan, USA

    Wesley M. Brown

Authors
  1. Gavin J. P. Naylor
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  2. Wesley M. Brown
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Naylor, G., Brown, W. Structural biology and phylogenetic estimation. Nature 388, 527–528 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/41460

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