Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 8, 2025

Following the Dynamics of Structural Variants in Experimentally Evolved Populations
Published on: February 3, 2023
Stochastic Character Mapping: An Under-Exploited Approach to the Study of Molecular Evolution
Simon Laurin-Lemay1, Nicolas Rodrigue2,3,4
1Department of Biology, Carleton University, 209 Nesbitt Biology Building, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, ON, Canada. simon.laurin-lemay@proton.me.
None:
Methods for the probabilistic mapping of the history of state changes over a phylogeny have been available for the study of molecular evolution for over two decades. In spite of this, such methods have yet to be adopted at large by most molecular evolutionary biologists. Here, we re-emphasize the potential of these stochastic mappings with examples pertaining to the study of the amino acid replacement process. We show how the features targeted by today's top-performing models could have been highlighted in a full phylogenetic context with an amino acid-level Jukes-Cantor model. We also demonstrate how stochastic mappings could be used for detecting CpG hypermutability, a site-dependent feature. We hope for a larger project utilizing mapping-based methods to provide of more fulsome characterization of molecular evolution, and to prioritize and assess modeling efforts. Finally, we draw attention to the options available within the PhyloBayes(-MPI) software for producing mappings under a large set of evolutionary models.
More Related Videos
11:22Using Three-color Single-molecule FRET to Study the Correlation of Protein Interactions
Published on: January 30, 2018
09:17Structure-Based Simulation and Sampling of Transcription Factor Protein Movements along DNA from Atomic-Scale Stepping to Coarse-Grained Diffusion
Published on: March 1, 2022
Related Concept Videos
Mutation, Gene Flow, and Genetic Drift
Gene Evolution - Fast or Slow?
In contrast, regions which code...
Point and Frameshift Mutations
Modern Molecular Taxonomy
Genetic Drift
Evolutionary Relationships through Genome Comparisons