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1: Algorithms Mol Biol. 2007 Jun 28;2:8.Click here to read Click here to read Links

Consistency of the neighbor-net algorithm.

Bryant D, Moulton V, Spillner A.

Department of Mathematics, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, NZ. bryant@math.auckland.ac.nz

BACKGROUND: Neighbor-Net is a novel method for phylogenetic analysis that is currently being widely used in areas such as virology, bacteriology, and plant evolution. Given an input distance matrix, Neighbor-Net produces a phylogenetic network, a generalization of an evolutionary or phylogenetic tree which allows the graphical representation of conflicting phylogenetic signals. RESULTS: In general, any network construction method should not depict more conflict than is found in the data, and, when the data is fitted well by a tree, the method should return a network that is close to this tree. In this paper we provide a formal proof that Neighbor-Net satisfies both of these requirements so that, in particular, Neighbor-Net is statistically consistent on circular distances.

PMID: 17597551 [PubMed]

PMCID: PMC1948893