Title: Jumpstarting phylogenetic analysis

Authors: Jesse Mecham, Mark Clement, Quinn Snell, Todd Freestone, Kevin Seppi, Keith Crandall

Addresses: Department of Computer Science, Brigham Young University, Provo UT 84602, USA. ' Department of Computer Science, Brigham Young University, Provo UT 84602, USA. ' Department of Computer Science, Brigham Young University, Provo UT 84602, USA. ' Department of Computer Science, Brigham Young University, Provo UT 84602, USA. ' Department of Computer Science, Brigham Young University, Provo UT 84602, USA. ' Department of Integrative Biology, Brigham Young University, Provo UT 84602, USA

Abstract: Phylogenetic analysis is a central tool in studies of comparative genomics. When a new region of DNA is isolated and sequenced, researchers are often forced to throw away months of computation on an existing phylogeny of homologous sequences in order to incorporate this new sequence. The previously constructed trees are often discarded, and the researcher begins the search again from scratch. The jumpstarting algorithm uses trees from the prior search as a starting point for a new phylogenetic search. This technique drastically decreases search time for large data sets. This kind of analysis is necessary as researchers analyse tree of life size data sets.

Keywords: phylogenetics; jumpstarting algorithm; alignment; bioinformatics; phylogenetic analysis; comparative genomics; phylogenetic search; large data sets; DNA.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBRA.2006.009191

International Journal of Bioinformatics Research and Applications, 2006 Vol.2 No.1, pp.19 - 35

Published online: 09 Mar 2006 *

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