title: Rewriting evolution--"been there, done that".
abstract: A recent paper by a science journalist in Nature shows major errors in understanding phylogenies, in this case of placental mammals. The underlying unrooted tree is probably correct, but the placement of the root just reflects a well-known error from the acceleration in the rate of evolution among some myomorph rodents.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Fundamental Sciences, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand. d.penny@massey.ac.nz
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Penny
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D006801:Humans; D008322:Mammals / Q000235:genetics*; D017712:Peer Review, Research; D010802:Phylogeny
keywords: phylogeny errors; placental mammals; rates of evolution
references.citation: Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1999 May 18;870:100-7
references.pmid: 10415476
references.citation: Mol Biol Evol. 1988 Sep;5(5):568-83
references.pmid: 3193878
references.citation: Nature. 2012 Jun 27;486(7404):460-2
references.pmid: 22739294
references.citation: Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012 Sep 11;109(37):14942-7
references.pmid: 22930817
references.citation: Mol Biol Evol. 2002 Dec;19(12):2060-70
references.pmid: 12446798
references.citation: PLoS Comput Biol. 2012;8(11):e1002752
references.pmid: 23133357
references.citation: Math Biosci. 2004 Feb;187(2):189-203
references.pmid: 14739084
references.citation: Mol Biol Evol. 2009 Sep;26(9):1975-91
references.pmid: 19491402
references.citation: Science. 2011 Oct 28;334(6055):521-4
references.pmid: 21940861
references.citation: Gene. 2002 Jul 10;294(1-2):119-29
references.pmid: 12234673
references.citation: J Mol Evol. 1976 Aug 3;8(2):95-116
references.pmid: 966292
references.citation: Mol Biol Evol. 2004 Jun;21(6):974-83
references.pmid: 14739240
references.citation: Proc Biol Sci. 2012 Sep 7;279(1742):3491-500
references.pmid: 22628470
references.citation: FEBS Lett. 1992 Apr 20;301(2):127-31
references.pmid: 1568469
references.citation: Mol Biol Evol. 1995 Sep;12(5):863-82
references.pmid: 7476132
references.citation: Mol Biol Evol. 2000 Jun;17(6):839-50
references.pmid: 10833190
references.citation: Nature. 1996 Jun 13;381(6583):597-600
references.pmid: 8637593
references.citation: Genome Res. 2012 Apr;22(4):746-54
references.pmid: 22207614