title: Statistical method for estimating the standard errors of branch lengths in a phylogenetic tree reconstructed without assuming equal rates of nucleotide substitution among different lineages.
abstract: A statistical method is developed for estimating the standard errors of branch lengths in a phylogenetic tree reconstructed without assuming equal rates of nucleotide substitution among different lineages. This method can be easily used for testing whether the length of an interior branch in a reconstructed tree is positive, i.e., whether the topology of the tree is correct. Computer simulations indicate that this method is appropriate for a statistical test. As an example, this method is applied to phylogenetic trees reconstructed for the four hominoid species: human, chimpanzee, gorilla, and orangutan. The results obtained show that the present method provides a powerful statistical test.
authors.affiliation: Department of Population Genetics, National Institute of Genetics, Shizuoka, Japan.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Tajima
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003198:Computer Simulation; D006071:Gorilla gorilla / Q000235:genetics; D000882:Haplorhini / Q000235:genetics*; D015186:Hominidae / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D008957:Models, Genetic; D002679:Pan troglodytes / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D011148:Pongo pygmaeus / Q000235:genetics; D013223:Statistics as Topic / Q000379:methods*