Ort: Hörsaal, Museum Koenig
Zeit: 20.10.2011, 17:15h
On evolutionary rates and phylogenetic information
How to quantify the phylogenetic information content of a dataset is a longstanding question in phylogenetics and vital for experimental design. Recently, Townsend (2007) developed a method to profile the informativeness of a dataset through time by linking its evolutionary rate to its power to resolve relationships at different time scales.
Here, we evaluate the performance of the method in the case of two genes, 28S rDNA and CO1 mtDNA, with data from four insect phylogenies.
We find that the method repeatedly overestimates the performance of the more quickly evolving CO1 compared to 28S. Using simulated datasets, we show that the relationship between substitution rate and phylogenetic informativeness is depending strongly on the phylogenetic setting.
Townsend's approach does not adequately account for this complexity, and its predictions should be interpreted with caution when used in experimental design. Alternatives to this method are discussed, including Fisher information and a new measure based on average branch lengths.
Here, we evaluate the performance of the method in the case of two genes, 28S rDNA and CO1 mtDNA, with data from four insect phylogenies.
We find that the method repeatedly overestimates the performance of the more quickly evolving CO1 compared to 28S. Using simulated datasets, we show that the relationship between substitution rate and phylogenetic informativeness is depending strongly on the phylogenetic setting.
Townsend's approach does not adequately account for this complexity, and its predictions should be interpreted with caution when used in experimental design. Alternatives to this method are discussed, including Fisher information and a new measure based on average branch lengths.
