Jungles: a new solution to the host/parasite phylogeny reconciliation problem.
The problem of finding least-cost reconstructions of past host/parasite associations, given the phylogenetic histories of a set of host taxa and of their associated parasites, is known to be complex. I provide in this article a new method of implicitly listing all the potentially optimal solutions to the problem, by considering each hypothesised past association individually, in a structure I have termed a Jungle. These structures are demonstrated to enable fast acquisition of globally optimal solutions under general weighting schemes, including minimisation of total number of postulated events and maximization of postulated cospeciation events. A simple example is given, and the pocket gopher/chewing louse system investigated by Hafner and Nadler [Hafner and Nadler, Nature 332 (1988) 258] is re-examined.
Charleston
M A
MA
Division of Environmental and Evolutionary Biology, University of Glasgow, UK. m.a.charleston@bio.gla.ac.uk
D000818:Animals; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions; D010373:Lice Infestations / Q000469:parasitology / Q000662:veterinary; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D008954:Models, Biological; D008003:Phthiraptera / Q000254:growth & development; D010802:Phylogeny; D012376:Rodent Diseases / Q000469:parasitology; D012377:Rodentia / Q000469:parasitology