Phylogenetic uncertainties and sensitivity analyses in comparative biology

1996 ◽  
Vol 351 (1345) ◽  
pp. 1241-1249 ◽  

Phylogenetic comparative analyses combine information on character states and phylogenetic relationships of taxa to test hypotheses regarding character evolution. These studies encounter uncertainties at various steps, including uncertainty in the topology of phylogenetic trees, the scoring of characters, and the addition of taxa that have not explicitly been included in phylogenetic analyses. Here we highlight a variety of sensitivity tests designed to explore the robustness of comparative conclusions to changes in underlying assumptions. These include the examination of character correlations on a set of plausible phylogenetic hypotheses (including alternative rootings and ‘neighbouring’ trees), as well as under alternative character codings. TreeBASE -a prototype relational database of phylogenetic data - should prove useful in accessing alternative hypotheses.

ZooKeys ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 862 ◽  
pp. 1-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tatsuki Koido ◽  
Yukimitsu Imahara ◽  
Hironobu Fukami

The soft coral family Xeniidae, commonly found in tropical and subtropical regions, consists of 20 genera and 162 species. To date, few studies on this family have been conducted in Japan, especially at higher latitudes. Although molecular phylogenetic analyses have recently been used to distinguish soft coral species, it is difficult to identify species and genera in this family due to the limited taxonomic indices and high morphological variation. In this study, we found a large Xeniidae community off the coast of Oshima Island (31°31.35'N, 131°24.27'E) at Miyazaki, Kyushu Island, located in the temperate region of Japan. The species composition and molecular phylogenetic relationships were investigated to uncover the species diversity of Xeniidae in this community. A total of 182 xeniid specimens were collected and identified to the species level, after which the samples were molecularly analyzed using a mitochondrial marker (ND2) and a nuclear marker (ITS) to infer the phylogenetic relationships. A total of 14 xeniid species were identified, including five undescribed species from five genera (Anthelia, Heteroxenia, Sympodium, Xenia, and Yamazatum). Miyazaki was identified as having the highest xeniid species diversity in Japan. The molecular phylogenetic trees inferred from each marker recovered very similar topologies: four genera (Anthelia, Heteroxenia, Sympodium, and Yamazatum) were monophyletic, whereas one (Xenia) was polyphyletic. Thus, except for Xenia, the morphological characteristics used for traditional taxonomy well reflected the phylogeny of the Xeniidae at the genus level. On the other hand, our results show that further taxonomic revisions of Xenia are needed.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wanqing Zhao ◽  
Qing Zhao ◽  
Min Li ◽  
Jiufeng Wei ◽  
Xianhong Zhang ◽  
...  

Abstract The family Pentatomidae, the largest within the superfamily Pentatomoidae, comprises about 5,000 species; many of which are economically important pests. Although the phylogeny of Pentatomidae species has been studied using various molecular markers, their phylogenetic relationships remain controversial. Recently, mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes) have been extensively employed to examine the phylogenetics and evolution of different insects, and in this study, we sequenced complete/near-complete mitochondrial genomes from five shield bug species of Eurydema to gain a better understanding of phylogenetic relationships in the Pentatomidae. The five mitogenomes ranged in length from 15,500 to 16,752 bp and comprised 13 protein-coding genes (PCGs), 22 transfer RNAs (tRNAs), 2 ribosomal RNAs (rRNAs), and a control region. We compared mitogenomic characteristics of the Pentatomidae and constructed phylogenetic trees using Bayesian inference and maximum likelihood methods. Our results showed that gene arrangements, base composition, start/stop codons, gene overlaps, and RNA structures were conserved within the Pentatomidae and that congeneric species shared more characteristics. Saturation and heterogeneity analyses revealed that our PCGs and PCGRNA datasets were valid for phylogenetic analysis. Phylogenetic analyses showed consistent topologies based on BI and ML methods. These analyses strongly supported that Eurydema species belong to the tribe Strachiini, and formed a sister group with Pentatomini. The relationships among Eurydema species were shown to be consistent with their morphological features. (Strachiini + Pentatomini) was found to be a stable sibling of the clade comprising Cappaeini, Graphosomini, and Carpocorini. Furthermore, our results indicated that Graphosoma rubrolineatum (Heteroptera: Pentatomidae) belongs to the Pentatominae and not the Podopinae.


2017 ◽  
Vol 91 (4) ◽  
pp. 829-846 ◽  
Author(s):  
David F. Wright ◽  
William I. Ausich ◽  
Selina R. Cole ◽  
Mark E. Peter ◽  
Elizabeth C. Rhenberg

AbstractA major goal of biological classification is to provide a system that conveys phylogenetic relationships while facilitating lucid communication among researchers. Phylogenetic taxonomy is a useful framework for defining clades and delineating their taxonomic content according to well-supported phylogenetic hypotheses. The Crinoidea (Echinodermata) is one of the five major clades of living echinoderms and has a rich fossil record spanning nearly a half billion years. Using principles of phylogenetic taxonomy and recent phylogenetic analyses, we provide the first phylogeny-based definition for the Clade Crinoidea and its constituent subclades. A series of stem- and node-based definitions are provided for all major taxa traditionally recognized within the Crinoidea, including the Camerata, Disparida, Hybocrinida, Cladida, Flexibilia, and Articulata. Following recommendations proposed in recent revisions, we recognize several new clades, including the Eucamerata Cole 2017, Porocrinoidea Wright 2017, and Eucladida Wright 2017. In addition, recent phylogenetic analyses support the resurrection of two names previously abandoned in the crinoid taxonomic literature: the Pentacrinoidea Jaekel, 1918 and Inadunata Wachsmuth and Springer, 1885. Last, a phylogenetic perspective is used to inform a comprehensive revision of the traditional rank-based classification. Although an attempt was made to minimize changes to the rank-based system, numerous changes were necessary in some cases to achieve monophyly. These phylogeny-based classifications provide a useful template for paleontologists, biologists, and non-experts alike to better explore evolutionary patterns and processes with fossil and living crinoids.


2015 ◽  
Vol 146 (3) ◽  
pp. 230-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Riccardo Castiglia ◽  
Ernesto Capanna ◽  
Alexandra M.R. Bezerra ◽  
Domenico Bizzoco ◽  
Emanuela Zambigli ◽  
...  

The house mouse Mus musculus domesticus is characterized by more than 100 metacentric populations, due to the occurrence of Robertsonian (Rb) fusions, together with the standard all-telocentric karyotype (2n = 40). We examined G-banded karyotypes of 18 mice from 10 localities in Sicily and describe 3 new metacentric populations: ‘Ragusa Ibla' (IRAG), 2n = 33-36, Rb(2.4), Rb(5.6), Rb(9.16), Rb(13.17); ‘Piana degli Albanesi' (IPIA), 2n = 23, Rb(1.18), Rb(2.15), Rb(3.5), Rb(4.12), Rb(6.11), Rb(7.8), Rb(9.16), Rb(10.14), Rb(13.17); ‘Trapani' (ITRA), 2n = 22, Rb(1.18), Rb(2.15), Rb(3.7), Rb(4.12), Rb(5.9), Rb(6.11), Rb(8.16), Rb(10.14), Rb(13.17). Three mice belonged to the previously reported ‘Castelbuono' race (ICAS), 2n = 24, which is very similar to the nearby ‘Palermo' (IPAL) race, 2n = 26. Three Rb fusions not yet observed in wild mouse populations were identified: Rb(3.5), Rb(3.7) and Rb(5.9). Rb fusions shared among 4 races (IPIA, IRAG, ICAS, and IPAL) allowed us to describe their potential phylogenetic relationships. We obtained 2 alternative phylogenetic trees. The differences between them are mainly due to various modes of formation of IPIA and ITRA. In the first hypothesis, the specific Rb fusions occurred independently. In the second, those of IRAG originated from those of IPIA via whole-arm reciprocal translocations.


2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felipe Zapata ◽  
Freya E Goetz ◽  
Stephen A Smith ◽  
Mark Howison ◽  
Stefan Siebert ◽  
...  

Cnidaria, the sister group to Bilateria, is a highly diverse group of animals in terms of morphology, lifecycles, ecology, and development. How this diversity originated and evolved is not well understood because phylogenetic relationships among major cnidarian lineages are unclear, and recent studies present contrasting phylogenetic hypotheses. Here, we use transcriptome data from 15 newly-sequenced species in combination with 26 publicly available genomes and transcriptomes to assess phylogenetic relationships among major cnidarian lineages. Phylogenetic analyses using different partition schemes and models of molecular evolution, as well as topology tests for alternative phylogenetic relationships, support the monophyly of Medusozoa, Anthozoa, Octocorallia, Hydrozoa, and a clade consisting of Staurozoa, Cubozoa, and Scyphozoa. Support for the monophyly of Hexacorallia is weak due to the equivocal position of Ceriantharia. Taken together, these results further resolve deep cnidarian relationships, largely support traditional phylogenetic views on relationships, and provide a historical framework for studying the evolutionary processes involved in one of the most ancient animal radiations.


2009 ◽  
Vol 21 (6) ◽  
pp. 565-570 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristen L. Kuhn ◽  
Thomas J. Near

AbstractThe biota of Antarctica is amazingly rich and highly endemic. The phylogenetics of notothenioid fishes has been extensively investigated through analyses of morphological characters, DNA sequences from mitochondrial genes, and single copy nuclear genes. These phylogenetic analyses have produced reasonably similar phylogenetic trees of notothenioids, however a number of phylogenetic questions remain. The nototheniid clade Trematomus is an example of a group where phylogenetic relationships remain unresolved. In this paper we revisit the phylogenetic relationships of Trematomus using both increased taxon sampling and an expanded dataset which includes DNA sequences from two mitochondrial genes (ND2 and 16S rRNA) and one single-copy nuclear gene (RPS7). The Bayesian phylogeny resulting from the analysis of the combined mitochondrial and nuclear gene datasets was well resolved and contained more interspecific nodes supported with significant Bayesian posteriors than either the mitochondrial or nuclear gene phylogenies alone. This demonstrates that the addition of nuclear gene sequence data to mitochondrial data can enhance phylogenetic resolution and increase node support. Additionally, the results of the combined mitochondrial and nuclear Bayesian analyses provide further support for the inclusion of species previously classified as Pagothenia and Cryothenia in Trematomus.


Nematology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (9) ◽  
pp. 971-994 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abas Mokaram Hesar ◽  
Akbar Karegar ◽  
Reza Ghaderi

Summary The Persian sessile nematode (Cacopaurus pestis) and pin nematodes (Paratylenchus spp.) are sedentary ectoparasitic nematodes associated with many plant species worldwide. In this study, we provide morphological and molecular characterisation of seven populations of C. pestis and eight species of Paratylenchus recovered from north-western Iran. A total of 26 new sequences of D2-D3 expansion segments of 28S rRNA and ITS rRNA were obtained and used to reconstruct phylogenetic trees. Results of phylogenetic analyses revealed that the subfamilies of Tylenchulidae form well-separated clades, but that the genera Cacopaurus and Paratylenchus (= Gracilacus) in the subfamily Paratylenchinae are clustered in one clade. It appears that the previously used character of “stylet length greater than 40 μm” is not homologous and evolved more than once within the Paratylenchinae.


PhytoKeys ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 140 ◽  
pp. 11-22
Author(s):  
Izai A. B. Sabino Kikuchi ◽  
Paul J. A. Keβler ◽  
André Schuiteman ◽  
Jin Murata ◽  
Tetsuo Ohi-Toma ◽  
...  

The orchid tribe Tropidieae comprises three genera, Tropidia, Corymborkis and Kalimantanorchis. There are three fully mycoheterotrophic species within Tropidieae: Tropidia saprophytica, T. connata and Kalimantanorchis nagamasui. A previous phylogenetic study of K. nagamasui, based only on plastid matK data, placed K. nagamasui outside the clade of Tropidia and Corymborkis without support. In this study, we performed phylogenetic analyses using a nuclear ribosomal DNA spacer (ITS1-5.8S-ITS2), a low-copy nuclear coding gene (Xdh) and a mitochondrial intron (nad1b-c intron) to study the phylogenetic relationships within Tropidieae. We included six photosynthetic and all three fully mycoheterotrophic Tropidieae species. The resulting phylogenetic trees placed these fully mycoheterotrophic species inside the Tropidia clade with high support. In our trees, these three species do not form a monophyletic group together, because the photosynthetic T. graminea is nested amongst them. Our results also suggest that the loss of photosynthetic ability occurred at least twice in Tropidia.


1970 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-51
Author(s):  
Noor Aisyah Rahim ◽  
Millawati Gani ◽  
Mohd Tajuddin Abdullah

The molecular phylogenetic relationships among ten species of macaques were assessed using mitochondrialDNA (mtDNA) cytochrome oxidase II (COII) gene. The 27 individuals comprising of ten species within genusMacaca, namely, M. sylvanus, M. mulatta, M. cyclopis, M. arctoides, M. fascicularis, M. assamensis, M.thibetana, M. nemestrina, M. leonina and M. silenus were used in this study. The phylogenetic trees werereconstructed using neighbor-joining (NJ), maximum parsimony (MP) and maximum likelihood (ML) methods.Based on our constructed tree, it is suggested that the results from phylogenetic analyses demonstrated fourgroups of macaques. In addition, the trees showed topology of M. sylvanus as a sister clade to all Asianmacaques. The silenus group, which diverged first after M. sylvanus formed their own clade, consisted ofmacaque species M. silenus, M. nemestrina and M. leonina. Meanwhile, the sinica group consisted of M.assamensis and M. thibetana, and the fascicularis group comprised of M. fascicularis, M. arctoides, M. mulattaand M. cyclopis. Our ML tree also showed that M. arctoides is a member of fascicularis group. Our study, alsoindicated that our results neglect the classification based on outer appearances and supports the proposedmolecular work view.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steffen Kiel

ABSTRACTPhylogenetic analyses using morphological data currently require hand-crafted character matrices, limiting the number of taxa that can be included. Here I explore how Deep Learning and Computer Vision approaches typically applied to image classification tasks, may be used to infer phylogenetic relationships among bivalves. A convolutional neural network (CNN) was trained on thousands of images showing species of 75 bivalve families. The predictions of the CNN on a large number of bivalve images are then interpreted as an indication of how similar these bivalves are to each other, are averaged by the families to which the species belonged, and visualized in a cluster diagram. In this cluster diagram, significantly more families clustered with members of their subclasses than expected by chance, confirming the feasibility of the approach. To address the issue of convergent evolution, two further CNNs were trained, on the same images but grouped by the orders and subclasses to which the species belonged. Combining predictions for the same images but on different taxonomic levels improved the inferred phylogenetic relationships also of families that the CNNs had not been trained on. Finally, this combined tree is merged with five published phylogenetic trees into a supertree, representing the largest single phylogeny of the Bivalvia to date, encompassing 128 families, including six exclusively fossil families and nine extant families for which presently no molecular data are available. Issues inherent to the approach and suggestions for future directions are discussed.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document