Theory of Gene Trees and Species Trees

本项目将开发计算方法，以了解密切相关物种的基因序列之间的关系。目标是确定个体基因的历史在多大程度上反映了物种的血统历史，并设计出从多个基因序列推断密切相关物种关系的方法。一个数学理论将被开发，描述如何在不同物种的基因序列模式反映或未能反映物种关系。将使用计算和模拟来研究基因树/物种树不一致的特别极端形式的发生频率-其中一组物种中最可能的遗传模式与物种树形状不匹配，对这种极端不一致的理解将被纳入推断物种树的新算法中。描述物种之间关系的树是可以理解生命的多样性，它们是生物学许多领域的重要组成部分。 该项目产生的结果和方法将产生共享软件，可用于改进从遗传数据推断物种关系。

This project will develop computational methods for understanding the relationships of gene sequences from closely related species. The goal is to determine the extent to which the histories of individual genes reflect the descent history of species, and to devise methods for inferring relationships of closely related species from sequences of multiple genes. A mathematical theory will be developed that describes how the sequence patterns of a gene in different species reflect or fail to reflect the species relationships. The frequency of occurrence of a particularly extreme form of gene tree/species tree discordance - in which the most probable genetic pattern in a set of species does not match the species tree shape - will be studied using computation and simulation, and an understanding of this extreme discordance will be incorporated into novel algorithms for inferring species trees.Trees describing the relationships between species are the basic structures on which the diversity of life can be understood, and they are an essential component of many areas of biology. The results and methods produced by this project will produce shared software that can be used for improved inference of species relationships from genetic data.