Stochastic complexity as a taxonomic tool
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Using Phylogenetic Analysis to Investigate Eukaryotic Gene Origin
Published on: August 14, 2018
H G Gyllenberg1, M Gyllenberg, T Koski
1Institute of Biotechnology, University of Helsinki, Finland. matsgyl@utu.fi
Abstract:
In this paper we propose a method of constructing a hierarchical classification based on the notion of stochastic complexity. Minimization of stochastic complexity amounts to maximization of the information content of the classification. A dendrogram is obtained by first finding the classification which minimizes stochastic complexity and then by step-wise merging of groups such that at each step there is a minimum loss of information. The method was applied to a database containing 5313 strains of Enterobacteriaceae. The results are in reasonable accordance with present-day views on the taxonomy of Enterobacteriaceae.
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