Essentials of Phylogenetic Analysis
Základy fylogenetické analýzy
Essentials of Phylogenetic Analysis
Miloš Macholán
Inferring phylogenetic relationships among all living organisms, the Tree of Life, is one of the most important tasks of evolutionary biology. Recently we have been witnessing revolutionary progress in molecular genetic methods, from sequencing genes to whole genomes. Advances in hardware and software now allow processing immense amount of data. Due to this progress we can get more precise and accurate phylogenies which, in turn, enable discovery and understanding of many biological processes on various levels of life. However, the methodological progress in phylogenetics and the expanding range of its applicability entail higher demands on our understanding of basic principles of applied methods and at least elementary knowledge of underlying evolutionary processes and mechanisms. This book presents an overview and brief description of the most frequent methods of phylogenetic inference. It should provide basic information on underlying assumptions of these methods, their advantages and disadvantages, and differences between them. The text should help readers to make informed decisions in choosing an optimal approach for solving a given problem and for a given type of data as well as in correct interpretation of the results. The book begins with an overview of the types of data for phylogenetic analysis, databases and sequence alignment, followed by methods of parsimony, evolutionary models, distance methods, likelihood, Bayesian inference, testing hypotheses, and comparing phylogenies. A separate chapter is focused on phylogenetic methods based on morphological data. The final part deals with the theory of coalescent which is essential for an array of population genetic analyses including new approaches to phylogeography.
Masaryk University Press
290 p., 160 x 230 mm, paperback. ISBN 978-80-210-6363-1