- Course overview
- Search within this course
- Why is phylogenetics important?
- What is a phylogeny?
- Major stages in phylogenetic analyses
- Phylogenetics resources at EMBL-EBI
- Discovering the phylogeny of all flowering plants
- Summary
- Quiz: test your knowledge
- Learn more
- Your feedback
- References
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Why use molecular data?
Today, almost all evolutionary relationships are inferred from molecular sequence data. This is because:
- DNA is the inherited material
- We can now easily, quickly, inexpensively and reliably sequence genetic material
- Sequences are highly specific and are often information rich
In rare cases, where it is not possible to obtain genetic material (e.g. in the case of certain ancient fossil samples), morphological measurements can be used to infer evolutionary relationships. However, this approach is less reliable than using molecular data because we know that sometimes the same morphological trait can arise from multiple independent evolutionary lineages (i.e. occurrences of the trait are analogous).
This course will focus on molecular phylogenetics.