RT Journal Article SR Electronic T1 Synthesis of phylogeny and taxonomy into a comprehensive tree of life JF bioRxiv FD Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory SP 012260 DO 10.1101/012260 A1 Cody Hinchliff A1 Stephen A. Smith A1 James F. Allman A1 J. Gordon Burleigh A1 Ruchi Chaudhary A1 Lyndon M. Coghill A1 Keith A. Crandall A1 Jiabin Deng A1 Bryan T. Drew A1 Romina Gazis A1 Karl Gude A1 David S. Hibbett A1 Laura A. Katz A1 H. Dail Laughinghouse IV A1 Emily Jane McTavish A1 Peter E. Midford A1 Christopher L. Owen A1 Richard Ree A1 Jonathan A. Rees A1 Douglas E. Soltis A1 Tiffani Williams A1 Karen A. Cranston YR 2015 UL http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2014/12/05/012260.abstract AB 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: 1) a novel comprehensive global reference taxonomy; and 2) a database of published phylogenetic trees mapped to this taxonomy. Our open source framework facilitates community comment and contribution, enabling the tree to be continuously updated when new phylogenetic and taxonomic data become digitally available. While data coverage and phylogenetic conflict across the Open Tree of Life illuminate gaps in both the underlying data available for phylogenetic reconstruction and the publication of trees as digital objects, the tree provides a compelling starting point for community contribution. This comprehensive tree will fuel fundamental research on the nature of biological diversity, ultimately providing up-to-date phylogenies for downstream applications in comparative biology, ecology, conservation biology, climate change, agriculture, and genomics.