Synthesis of phylogeny and taxonomy into a comprehensive tree of life.

ABSTRACT: Reconstructing the phylogenetic relationships that unite all lineages (the tree of life) is a grand challenge. The paucity of homologous character data across disparately related lineages currently renders direct phylogenetic inference untenable. To reconstruct a comprehensive tree of life, we therefore synthesized published phylogenies, together with taxonomic classifications for taxa never incorporated into a phylogeny. We present a draft tree containing 2.3 million tips-the Open Tree of Life. Realization of this tree required the assembly of two additional community resources: (i) a comprehensive global reference taxonomy and (ii) a database of published phylogenetic trees mapped to this taxonomy. Our open source framework facilitates community comment and contribution, enabling the tre

SUBMITTER: Hinchliff CE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4611642 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature