Bayesian inference of phylogeny and its impact on evolutionary biology

Abstract

As a discipline, phylogenetics is becoming transformed by a flood of molecular data. These data allow broad questions to be asked about the history of life, but also present difficult statistical and computational problems. Bayesian inference of phylogeny brings a new perspective to a number of outstanding issues in evolutionary biology, including the analysis of large phylogenetic trees and complex evolutionary models and the detection of the footprint of natural selection in DNA sequences.