Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 15, 2026

A Practical Guide to Phylogenetics for Nonexperts
Published on: February 5, 2014
MAFFT multiple sequence alignment software version 7: improvements in performance and usability
Kazutaka Katoh1, Daron M Standley
1Immunology Frontier Research Center, Osaka University, Suita, Osaka, Japan. kazutaka.katoh@aist.go.jp
Abstract:
We report a major update of the MAFFT multiple sequence alignment program. This version has several new features, including options for adding unaligned sequences into an existing alignment, adjustment of direction in nucleotide alignment, constrained alignment and parallel processing, which were implemented after the previous major update. This report shows actual examples to explain how these features work, alone and in combination. Some examples incorrectly aligned by MAFFT are also shown to clarify its limitations. We discuss how to avoid misalignments, and our ongoing efforts to overcome such limitations.
Related Concept Videos
Evolutionary Relationships through Genome Comparisons
Modern Molecular Taxonomy
Multi-species Conserved Sequences
Although the genome of each species varies greatly from each other, a few sequences are highly conserved. Such conserved DNA...

