What is it about?

This paper explores the impact of variable rates of nucleotide substitution on two statistical methods used in studies of molecular evolution: (1) a test of the molecular clock hypothesis and (2) confidence intervals of numbers of substitutions. The paper argues that the latter is impacted much more than the former. The main implication is that variability in the rate of evolution cannot be neglected as a source of uncertainty in the branch lengths of phylogenetic trees.

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Why is it important?

The proposed fractal Gaussian model of molecular evolution, like other fractal models, describes the substitution rate as occurring over all time scales. Unlike other fractal models, its numbers of substitutions follow a normal distribution, which simplified the computation of the confidence intervals of the branch lengths in phylogenetic trees. Such branch lengths represent numbers of nucleotide substitutions.

Perspectives

This paper is related to those from my PhD research. To see them, follow the "Related papers" link.

David R. Bickel
University of North Carolina at Greensboro

Read the Original

This page is a summary of: Implications of Fluctuations in Substitution Rates: Impact on the Uncertainty of Branch Lengths and on Relative-Rate Tests, Journal of Molecular Evolution, April 2000, Springer Science + Business Media,
DOI: 10.1007/s002399910041.
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