Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Experiment Videos

Is there a star tree paradox?

Bryan Kolaczkowski, Joseph W Thornton

    Molecular Biology and Evolution
    |July 14, 2006
    PubMed
    Summary
    This summary is machine-generated.

    Bayesian phylogenetic analysis does not inflate confidence in resolved trees, even with unresolved true trees. This study refutes the "star tree paradox," showing reliable posterior probabilities in phylogenetics.

    Related Concept Videos

    You might also read

    Related Articles

    Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

    Sort by
    Same author

    Origins of allostery in vertebrate hemoglobin evolution.

    bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2026
    Same author

    Epistatic drift in protein evolution.

    Current opinion in genetics & development·2025
    Same author

    The structure of an ancient genotype-phenotype map shaped the functional evolution of a protein family.

    Nature ecology & evolution·2025
    Same author

    Robustness of Ancestral Sequence Reconstruction to Among-site and Among-lineage Evolutionary Heterogeneity.

    Molecular biology and evolution·2025
    Same author

    The structure of an ancient genotype-phenotype map shaped the functional evolution of a protein family.

    bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2025
    Same author

    Symmetry facilitated the evolution of heterospecificity and high-order stoichiometry in vertebrate hemoglobin.

    Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·2025
    Same journal

    The life history of recessive deleterious alleles as seen through the eyes of a honey bee (Apis mellifera).

    Molecular biology and evolution·2026
    Same journal

    Severe bottleneck of ancient Homo populations: Insights from computational modeling and relevant fossil evidence.

    Molecular biology and evolution·2026
    Same journal

    Population Epigenetics: Deciphering DNA Methylation Diversity and its Implications for Health, Disease, and Evolution.

    Molecular biology and evolution·2026
    Same journal

    Genomic signature of repeated transitions to diurnality in spiders.

    Molecular biology and evolution·2026
    Same journal

    Phylogenomic blind spots: The limits of UCE and BUSCO loci in the presence of gene flow.

    Molecular biology and evolution·2026
    Same journal

    seqLens: Optimizing Language Models for Genomic Predictions.

    Molecular biology and evolution·2026
    See all related articles

    Area of Science:

    • Phylogenetics
    • Computational Biology
    • Evolutionary Biology

    Background:

    • Concerns exist regarding the reliability of posterior probabilities in Bayesian phylogenetic analysis, particularly for unresolved trees or those with short internal branches.
    • Existing methods may not adequately evaluate unresolved tree topologies, potentially leading to inaccurate confidence estimates.

    Discussion:

    • This study investigates the proposed "star tree paradox," where unresolved true trees allegedly cause unpredictable posterior probabilities and inflated confidence in resolved trees with increasing sequence data.
    • The research demonstrates that existing Bayesian phylogenetic methods, under correct evolutionary models and uninformative priors, do not exhibit this paradox.
    • Posterior probabilities remain predictable and conservative, maintaining low rates of false-positive inferences even as sequence length increases.

    Related Experiment Videos

    Key Insights:

    • Bayesian phylogenetic methods do not inflate statistical confidence for resolved trees when the true tree is unresolved.
    • Posterior probabilities do not become unpredictable with increasing sequence length; type I error rates are conservative.
    • With sufficient data, all resolved trees receive equal support, and false inferences approach zero.

    Outlook:

    • The findings suggest that current Bayesian approaches are robust for inferring phylogenetic relationships, even in challenging cases of unresolved topologies.
    • Further validation of evolutionary models and prior sensitivity analyses could enhance confidence in phylogenetic reconstructions.
    • This work clarifies the behavior of posterior probabilities, reassuring practitioners about the reliability of Bayesian phylogenetics.