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Related Experiment Videos

Is the Felsenstein zone a fly trap?

J P Huelsenbeck1

  • 1Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA. johnh@mws4.biol.berkeley.edu

Systematic Biology
|March 1, 1997
PubMed
Summary

Long-branch attraction, a phylogenetic error, is demonstrated with insect DNA data. This study provides empirical evidence and simulation support for this long-recognized issue in evolutionary biology.

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Systematic bias in phylogenetic analysis: is the Strepsiptera problem solved?

Systematic biology·2002

Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Molecular Phylogenetics

Background:

  • Long-branch attraction (LBA) is a known systematic error in phylogenetic analysis, potentially misplacing long evolutionary lineages.
  • Despite being recognized for nearly 20 years, empirical examples of LBA have been lacking.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To establish clear criteria for identifying LBA.
  • To provide the first empirical evidence of LBA using molecular sequence data.
  • To investigate the impact of LBA on phylogenetic tree reconstruction.

Main Methods:

  • Development of criteria for identifying LBA.
  • Application of these criteria to 18S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) sequence data from 13 insect species.
  • Phylogenetic analyses using parsimony and minimum evolution methods.
  • Simulation studies to test the conditions under which LBA occurs.

Main Results:

  • Parsimony and minimum evolution analyses of 18S rDNA data incorrectly grouped the longest branches (Strepsiptera and Diptera).
  • Simulation studies confirmed that these branches were sufficiently long to cause attraction under parsimony.
  • Phylogenetic methods less susceptible to LBA produced trees where these long branches were correctly separated.

Conclusions:

  • This study provides the first empirical demonstration of long-branch attraction.
  • The findings highlight the limitations of certain phylogenetic methods when dealing with data exhibiting significant rate variation.
  • Alternative phylogenetic approaches are recommended for reconstructing accurate evolutionary histories from data prone to LBA.

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