Should phylogenetic models be trying to "fit an elephant"?
For the past two decades, there has been an ongoing debate within the plylogenetics community over whether model-based approaches for molecular systematics (such as maximum likelihood) should be preferred over the more traditional "maximum parsimony" approach. A recent simulation study by Kolaczkowski and Thornton has brought this debate into sharp focus. In this article, I discuss the significance of their findings and offer a prognosis on the implications for molecular phylogenetics. I believe that biochemistry and model selection have an important role in developing accurate phylogenetic approaches.
Steel
Mike
M
Allan Wilson Centre for Molecular Ecology and Evolution, Biomathematics Research Centre, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand. m.steel@math.canterbury.ac.nz
D000818:Animals; D001499:Bayes Theorem; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D006801:Humans; D016013:Likelihood Functions; D008957:Models, Genetic; D010802:Phylogeny; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric