Refined Methods for Inference of Metazoan Phylogeny Using Mitochondrial Genome Arrangement Data

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Bernd Schierwater
• Subject Area: Evolution, Anthropology
• Term: from 2005 to 2008
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 5454375

Mitochondrial genomes have been a particularly fruitful data set for phylogenetic reconstructions. Due to their limited size and the availability of a large number of informative data sets, they are particularly interesting for the reconstruction of deep metazoan phylogeny. We aim to contribute to a well-supported phylogenetic tree of the metazoa by applying new evolutionary models and phylogenetic methods as well as by acquiring and analyzing new data. Using two established methods for infering phylogenies as a starting point, namely multiple genome rearrangements as well as circular alignments, we propose to establish a refined model of mitochondrial genome evolution and correspondingly to develop efficient algorithms that are able to infer phylogenies from large data sets. A second major part of our project deals with acquiring and analyzing mitochondrial genome sequences, aiming to resolve open questions concerning the evolutionary roles and relationships between certain taxa such as Porifera, Placozoa, Cnidaria and Bilateria (including Hemichordata, Echinodermata and Chordata).

• DFG Programme: Priority Programmes
• Subproject of: SPP 1174: Deep Metazoan Phylogeny
• Participating Persons: Professor Dr. Martin Middendorf; Professor Dr. Martin Schlegel; Professor Dr. Peter Florian Stadler