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A Practical Guide to Phylogenetics for Nonexperts
Published on: February 5, 2014
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Hamiltonian walks of phylogenetic treespaces
Kevaughn Gordon1, Eric Ford2, Katherine St John1
1City University of New York, Bronx.
IEEE/ACM Transactions on Computational Biology and Bioinformatics
|December 17, 2013
Summary
We solved Bryant
Area of Science:
- Phylogenetics
- Combinatorics
- Graph Theory
Background:
- Phylogenetic trees represent evolutionary relationships.
- The nearest-neighbor interchange (NNI) metric measures distances between trees.
- Bryant posed a challenge regarding minimal walks in phylogenetic treespace.
Purpose of the Study:
- To address Bryant's combinatorial challenge on minimal walks in phylogenetic treespace.
- To determine if shortest paths under the NNI metric are Hamiltonian.
Main Methods:
- Investigated the structure of phylogenetic treespace.
- Analyzed paths between binary trees using NNI moves.
- Proved properties of minimal walks for n-leaf trees.
Main Results:
- The shortest path through the NNI-treespace of n-leaf trees is Hamiltonian for all n.
- A minimal path exists that visits all binary trees exactly once under NNI moves.
Conclusions:
- The study provides a definitive answer to Bryant's challenge.
- Confirms the Hamiltonian nature of minimal NNI walks in treespace.
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