Phylogenetic tree

How it is used

Used in evolution, microbiology and outbreak tracking. Researchers build or reconstruct a tree from a multiple sequence alignment and describe its branches, nodes, clades and common ancestors. During epidemics, trees show how virus variants spread.

Example sentences

1. The phylogenetic tree shows that the hospital isolates form a single cluster.

2. We built a phylogenetic tree from 16S rRNA sequences.

Common collocations

• build a phylogenetic tree
• phylogenetic analysis
• branch length
• common ancestor
• clade

Related terms

• alignmentArranging DNA, RNA or protein sequences side by side to find where they match, or placing sequencing reads in the right position on a reference genome.
• BLASTBasic Local Alignment Search Tool: a widely used program that compares a DNA or protein sequence with large databases to find similar sequences.
• genomicsThe branch of science that studies whole genomes, including their structure, function and evolution, usually with large-scale sequencing and computer analysis.
• variantA difference in a DNA sequence compared with a reference sequence. It is the neutral word used in clinical genetics, whether the change is harmful or harmless.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

• phylogenetic tree · Biology

More terms: Bioinformatics

• bioinformatics
• variant calling
• pipeline
• annotation
• FASTQ
• accession number