Advanced Methods in Molecular Phylogenetics

Advanced Methods in Molecular Phylogenetics - If genomes evolve by the gradual accumulation of mutations, then the amount of difference in nucleotide sequence between a pair of genomes should indicate how recently those two genomes shared a common ancestor. Two genomes that diverged in the recent past would be expected to have fewer differences than a pair of genomes whose common ancestor is more ancient. This means that by comparing three or more genomes it should be possible to work out the evolutionary relationships between them. These are the objectives of molecular phylogenetics.