The tree of genomes: An empirical comparison of genome-phylogeny reconstruction methods
2008

Comparing Genome-Phylogeny Reconstruction Methods

Sample size: 22 publication Evidence: moderate

Author Information

Author(s): Angela McCann, James A. Cotton, James O. McInerney

Primary Institution: National University of Ireland Maynooth

Hypothesis

Are different genome-phylogeny reconstruction methods producing fundamentally different results?

Conclusion

Genome phylogenies need to be interpreted differently, depending on the method used to construct them.

Supporting Evidence

  • The study confirmed that no two methods produce the same results.
  • Most current methods of inferring genome phylogenies produce results that are significantly different.
  • Conditioning genomes can lead to systematic biases in phylogenetic analysis.

Takeaway

This study looked at different ways to figure out how genomes are related and found that the method used can change the results a lot.

Methodology

The study compared five different phylogeny reconstruction methods using 22 fully sequenced Archaeal genomes.

Potential Biases

The choice of conditioning genome can introduce systematic bias in the inferred phylogenetic relationships.

Limitations

The study did not exhaustively explore all available methods and focused on exemplar methods.

Participant Demographics

The study focused on 22 diverse Archaeal genomes.

Statistical Information

P-Value

p<0.01

Statistical Significance

p<0.01

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1186/1471-2148-8-312

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