Using invariants for phylogenetic tree construction

2007/09/18 by Nicholas Eriksson, Eriksson, Nicholas
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Evolution and Paleontology Studies #FOS: Biological sciences #Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies #Plant Diversity and Evolution #Populations and Evolution (q-bio.PE)

paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.0709.2890

openalex publication_date 2007/09/18 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

Phylogenetic invariants are certain polynomials in the joint probability distribution of a Markov model on a phylogenetic tree. Such polynomials are of theoretical interest in the field of algebraic statistics and they are also of practical interest--they can be used to construct phylogenetic trees. This paper is a self-contained introduction to the algebraic, statistical, and computational challenges involved in the practical use of phylogenetic invariants. We survey the relevant literature and provide some partial answers and many open problems.

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