TY - JOUR T1 - Mapping phylogenetic trees to reveal distinct patterns of evolution JF - bioRxiv DO - 10.1101/026641 SP - 026641 AU - Michelle Kendall AU - Caroline Colijn Y1 - 2015/01/01 UR - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2015/09/11/026641.abstract N2 - Evolutionary relationships are described by phylogenetic trees, but a central barrier in many fields is the difficulty of interpreting data containing conflicting phylogenetic signals. Obtaining credible trees that capture the relationships present in complex data is one of the fundamental challenges in evolution today. We present a way to map trees which extracts distinct alternative evolutionary relationships embedded in data and re-solves phylogenetic uncertainty. Our method reveals a remarkably distinct phylogenetic signature in the VP30 gene of Ebolavirus, indicating possible recombination with significant implications for vaccine development. Moving to higher organisms, we use our approach to detect alternative histories of the evolution of anole lizards. Our approach has the capacity to resolve key areas of uncertainty in the study of evolution, and to broaden the credibility and appeal of phylogenetic methods. ER -