Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Species Tree vs. Gene Tree

Wessen-Simulating-human-origin-evo.pdf
Simulating Human Origins and Evolution by Ken Wessen (2005) p 9:

It must be remembered that a species tree is actually a combination of several individual gene trees, and the overall picture may only be recoverable through the study of several of these individual genes (Moore, 1995). The three species shown in Figure 1.2 contain a gene whose form in species C is older than the form in species A and B (the B–C species ancestor being polymorphic). Sampling this particular gene would incorrectly imply a closer relationship between species A and B than between B and C. (Analogously, in a morphological study, many independent morphological characters may be needed for accurate resolution of a species tree.)

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