scholarly journals The Prevalence and Impact of Model Violations in Phylogenetic Analysis

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 3341-3352 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suha Naser-Khdour ◽  
Bui Quang Minh ◽  
Wenqi Zhang ◽  
Eric A Stone ◽  
Robert Lanfear

Abstract In phylogenetic inference, we commonly use models of substitution which assume that sequence evolution is stationary, reversible, and homogeneous (SRH). Although the use of such models is often criticized, the extent of SRH violations and their effects on phylogenetic inference of tree topologies and edge lengths are not well understood. Here, we introduce and apply the maximal matched-pairs tests of homogeneity to assess the scale and impact of SRH model violations on 3,572 partitions from 35 published phylogenetic data sets. We show that roughly one-quarter of all the partitions we analyzed (23.5%) reject the SRH assumptions, and that for 25% of data sets, tree topologies inferred from all partitions differ significantly from topologies inferred using the subset of partitions that do not reject the SRH assumptions. This proportion increases when comparing trees inferred using the subset of partitions that rejects the SRH assumptions, to those inferred from partitions that do not reject the SRH assumptions. These results suggest that the extent and effects of model violation in phylogenetics may be substantial. They highlight the importance of testing for model violations and possibly excluding partitions that violate models prior to tree reconstruction. Our results also suggest that further effort in developing models that do not require SRH assumptions could lead to large improvements in the accuracy of phylogenomic inference. The scripts necessary to perform the analysis are available in https://github.com/roblanf/SRHtests, and the new tests we describe are available as a new option in IQ-TREE (http://www.iqtree.org).

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suha Naser-Khdour ◽  
Bui Quang Minh ◽  
Wenqi Zhang ◽  
Eric Stone ◽  
Robert Lanfear

AbstractIn phylogenetic inference we commonly use models of substitution which assume that sequence evolution is stationary, reversible and homogeneous (SRH). Although the use of such models is often criticized, the extent of SRH violations and their effects on phylogenetic inference of tree topologies and edge lengths are not well understood. Here, we introduce and apply the maximal matched-pairs tests of homogeneity to assess the scale and impact of SRH model violations on 3,572 partitions from 35 published phylogenetic datasets. We show that many partitions (39.5%) reject the SRH assumptions, and that for most datasets, the topologies of trees inferred from all partitions differ significantly from those inferred using the subset of partitions that do not reject the SRH assumptions. These results suggest that the extent and effects of model violation in phylogenetics may be substantial. They highlight the importance of testing for model violations and possibly excluding partitions that violate models prior to tree reconstruction. They also suggest that further effort in developing models that do not require SRH assumptions could lead to large improvements in the accuracy of phylogenomic inference. The scripts necessary to perform the analysis are available in https://github.com/roblanf/SRHtests, and the new tests we describe are available as a new option in IQ-TREE (http://www.iqtree.org).


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benedict King

Abstract The incorporation of stratigraphic data into phylogenetic analysis has a long history of debate but is not currently standard practice for paleontologists. Bayesian tip-dated (or morphological clock) phylogenetic methods have returned these arguments to the spotlight, but how tip dating affects the recovery of evolutionary relationships has yet to be fully explored. Here I show, through analysis of several data sets with multiple phylogenetic methods, that topologies produced by tip dating are outliers as compared to topologies produced by parsimony and undated Bayesian methods, which retrieve broadly similar trees. Unsurprisingly, trees recovered by tip dating have better fit to stratigraphy than trees recovered by other methods under both the Gap Excess Ratio (GER) and the Stratigraphic Completeness Index (SCI). This is because trees with better stratigraphic fit are assigned a higher likelihood by the fossilized birth-death tree model. However, the degree to which the tree model favors tree topologies with high stratigraphic fit metrics is modulated by the diversification dynamics of the group under investigation. In particular, when net diversification rate is low, the tree model favors trees with a higher GER compared to when net diversification rate is high. Differences in stratigraphic fit and tree topology between tip dating and other methods are concentrated in parts of the tree with weaker character signal, as shown by successive deletion of the most incomplete taxa from two data sets. These results show that tip dating incorporates stratigraphic data in an intuitive way, with good stratigraphic fit an expectation that can be overturned by strong evidence from character data. [fossilized birth-death; fossils; missing data; morphological clock; morphology; parsimony; phylogenetics.]


Zootaxa ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 4514 (4) ◽  
pp. 487
Author(s):  
ANDRÉS R. ACOSTA-GALVIS ◽  
JEFFREY W. STREICHER ◽  
LUIGI MANUELLI ◽  
TRAVIS CUDDY ◽  
RAFAEL O. DE SÁ

Among New World direct-developing frogs belonging to the clade Brachycephaloidea (= Terraranae), there are several genera with uncertain phylogenetic placements. One notable example is the genus Niceforonia Goin & Cochran 1963, which includes three species that are endemic to Colombia. Three specimens of the species Niceforonia nana were collected and for the first time the genus is included in a molecular phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial (mtDNA; 12S and 16S) and nuclear (nucDNA; TYR and RAG1) markers. Molecular phylogenetic inference based on concatenated and separate mtDNA and nucDNA analyses recovered Niceforonia nana nested within Hypodactylus Hedges et al. 2008, rendering the latter genus paraphyletic. Consequently, herein we place the genus Hypodactylus in the synonymy of Niceforonia to resolve the paraphyly and place Niceforonia in the subfamily Hypodactylinae. Based on our revised concept of the genus Niceforonia we conducted preliminary morphological comparisons using specimens and literature descriptions. Finally, Nicefornia nana is quite divergent from other species of Niceforonia (uncorrected genetic distances of ca. 10% 16S and 7% TYR) suggesting that further taxonomic revision may be warranted. 


2009 ◽  
Vol 46 (9) ◽  
pp. 651-661 ◽  
Author(s):  
Constanze Bickelmann ◽  
Johannes Müller ◽  
Robert R. Reisz

A restudy of the Upper Permian diapsid Acerosodontosaurus piveteaui from Madagascar indicates that the bone formerly identified as the quadratojugal is a fragment of a rib. This in turn implies that, in contrast to previous studies, the lower temporal arcade must be considered incomplete and derived relative to the ancestral condition. Since the phylogenetic position of Acerosodontosaurus is poorly understood, the taxon was entered into a modified phylogenetic data matrix of diapsid reptiles, and the purported monophyly of “Younginiformes” was tested for the first time by including all potential members of the clade as separate taxa, as well as other taxa from the same deposits. The results of the phylogenetic analysis do not support the monophyly of “younginiform” reptiles. Instead, most taxa cluster unresolved at the base of Neodiapsida, a finding that has important implications for the understanding of early diapsid evolution because it suggests that early neodiapsids represent several distinct evolutionary lineages. Acerosodontosaurus and Hovasaurus do form a clade, a finding consistent with the stratigraphic age and biogeography of these taxa.


Author(s):  
Emanuel TSCHOPP ◽  
Paul UPCHURCH

ABSTRACTSpecimen-level phylogenetic approaches are widely used in molecular biology for taxonomic and systematic purposes. However, they have been largely ignored in analyses based on morphological traits, where phylogeneticists mostly resort to species-level analyses. Recently, a number of specimen-level studies have been published in vertebrate palaeontology. These studies indicate that specimen-level phylogeny may be a very useful tool for systematic reassessments at low taxonomic levels. Herein, we review the challenges when working with individual organisms as operational taxonomic units in a palaeontological context, and propose guidelines of how best to perform a specimen-level phylogenetic analysis using the maximum parsimony criterion. Given that no single methodology appears to be perfectly suited to resolve relationships among individuals, and that different taxa probably require different approaches to assess their systematics, we advocate the use of a number of methodologies. In particular, we recommend the inclusion of as many specimens and characters as feasible, and the analysis of relationships using an extended implied weighting approach with different downweighting functions. Resulting polytomies should be explored using a posteriori pruning of unstable specimens, and conflicting tree topologies between different iterations of the analysis should be evaluated by a combination of support values such as jackknifing and symmetric resampling. Species delimitation should be consistent among the ingroup and based on a reproducible approach. Although time-consuming and methodologically challenging, specimen-level phylogenetic analysis is a highly useful tool to assess intraspecific variability and provide the basis for a more informed and accurate creation of species-level operational taxonomic units in large-scale systematic studies. It also has the potential to inform us about past speciation processes, morphological trait evolution, and their potential intrinsic and extrinsic drivers in pre-eminent detail.


MycoKeys ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 84 ◽  
pp. 103-139
Author(s):  
Guo-Jie Li ◽  
Shou-Mian Li ◽  
Bart Buyck ◽  
Shi-Yi Zhao ◽  
Xue-Jiao Xie ◽  
...  

Three new species of Russulasection Ingratae, found in Guizhou and Jiangsu Provinces, southern China, are proposed: R. straminella, R. subpectinatoides and R. succinea. Photographs, line drawings and detailed morphological descriptions for these species are provided with comparisons against closely-related taxa. Phylogenetic analysis of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region supported the recognition of these specimens as new species. Additionally, R. indocatillus is reported for the first time from China and morphological and phylogenetic data are provided for the Chinese specimens.


PeerJ ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. e4349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aristóteles Góes-Neto ◽  
Marcelo V.C. Diniz ◽  
Daniel S. Carvalho ◽  
Gilberto C. Bomfim ◽  
Angelo A. Duarte ◽  
...  

Complex networks have been successfully applied to the characterization and modeling of complex systems in several distinct areas of Biological Sciences. Nevertheless, their utilization in phylogenetic analysis still needs to be widely tested, using different molecular data sets and taxonomic groups, and, also, by comparing complex networks approach to current methods in phylogenetic analysis. In this work, we compare all the four main methods of phylogenetic analysis (distance, maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian) with a complex networks method that has been used to provide a phylogenetic classification based on a large number of protein sequences as those related to the chitin metabolic pathway and ATP-synthase subunits. In order to perform a close comparison to these methods, we selected Basidiomycota fungi as the taxonomic group and used a high-quality, manually curated and characterized database of chitin synthase sequences. This enzymatic protein plays a key role in the synthesis of one of the exclusive features of the fungal cell wall: the presence of chitin. The communities (modules) detected by the complex network method corresponded exactly to the groups retrieved by the phylogenetic inference methods. Additionally, we propose a bootstrap method for the complex network approach. The statistical results we have obtained with this method were also close to those obtained using traditional bootstrap methods.


1986 ◽  
Vol 69 (5) ◽  
pp. 915-918
Author(s):  
Edward J Kikta ◽  
◽  
E Bane ◽  
A Burns ◽  
A Christensen ◽  
...  

Abstract A liquid chromatographic (LC) method for the analysis of technical and formulated carbofuran samples was evaluated in a collaborative study. Carbofuran is determined by reverse phase LC, using a water-methanol mobile phase and acetophenone as internal standard, and detected at 280 nm. Twelve samples, 5 formulations and technical matched pairs, were analyzed by 17 collaborating laboratories. Accuracy and variability of results are typical of large LC data sets. The method has been adopted official first action.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 3906-3916 ◽  
Author(s):  
James F Fleming ◽  
Roberto Feuda ◽  
Nicholas W Roberts ◽  
Davide Pisani

Abstract Our ability to correctly reconstruct a phylogenetic tree is strongly affected by both systematic errors and the amount of phylogenetic signal in the data. Current approaches to tackle tree reconstruction artifacts, such as the use of parameter-rich models, do not translate readily to single-gene alignments. This, coupled with the limited amount of phylogenetic information contained in single-gene alignments, makes gene trees particularly difficult to reconstruct. Opsin phylogeny illustrates this problem clearly. Opsins are G-protein coupled receptors utilized in photoreceptive processes across Metazoa and their protein sequences are roughly 300 amino acids long. A number of incongruent opsin phylogenies have been published and opsin evolution remains poorly understood. Here, we present a novel approach, the canary sequence approach, to investigate and potentially circumvent errors in single-gene phylogenies. First, we demonstrate our approach using two well-understood cases of long-branch attraction in single-gene data sets, and simulations. After that, we apply our approach to a large collection of well-characterized opsins to clarify the relationships of the three main opsin subfamilies.


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