This was part of Algebraic Statistics for Ecological and Biological Systems

Ultrafast learning of hybridization networks using phylogenetic invariants

Claudia Solis Lemus, University of Wisconsin

Wednesday, October 11, 2023



Abstract:

We will discuss a novel method to reconstruct phylogenetic networks based on algebraic invariants. While there is a long tradition of using algebraic invariants in phylogenetics, our work is the first to define phylogenetic invariants on concordance factors (frequencies of 4-taxon splits in the input gene trees) to identify level-1 phylogenetic networks under the multispecies coalescent model. Our novel inference methodology is optimization-free as it only requires the evaluation of polynomial equations, and as such, it bypasses the traversal of network space, yielding a computational speed at least 10 times faster than the fastest-to-date network methods. We illustrate the accuracy and speed of our new method on a variety of simulated scenarios as well as in the estimation of a phylogenetic network for the genus Canis.