Fast-Evolving Alignment Sites Are Highly Informative for Reconstructions of Deep Tree of Life Phylogenies.

ABSTRACT: The trimming of fast-evolving sites, often known as "slow-fast" analysis, is broadly used in microbial phylogenetic reconstruction under the assumption that fast-evolving sites do not retain an accurate phylogenetic signal due to substitution saturation. Therefore, removing sites that have experienced multiple substitutions would improve the signal-to-noise ratio in phylogenetic analyses, with the remaining slower-evolving sites preserving a more reliable record of evolutionary relationships. Here, we show that, contrary to this assumption, even the fastest-evolving sites present in the conserved proteins often used in Tree of Life studies contain reliable and valuable phylogenetic information, and that the trimming of such sites can negatively impact the accuracy of phylogenetic reconstru

SUBMITTER: Rangel LT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10609509 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature