Roadmap to the study of gene and protein phylogeny and evolution-A practical guide

PLoS One. 2023 Feb 24;18(2):e0279597. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0279597. eCollection 2023.

Abstract

Developments in sequencing technologies and the sequencing of an ever-increasing number of genomes have revolutionised studies of biodiversity and organismal evolution. This accumulation of data has been paralleled by the creation of numerous public biological databases through which the scientific community can mine the sequences and annotations of genomes, transcriptomes, and proteomes of multiple species. However, to find the appropriate databases and bioinformatic tools for respective inquiries and aims can be challenging. Here, we present a compilation of DNA and protein databases, as well as bioinformatic tools for phylogenetic reconstruction and a wide range of studies on molecular evolution. We provide a protocol for information extraction from biological databases and simple phylogenetic reconstruction using probabilistic and distance methods, facilitating the study of biodiversity and evolution at the molecular level for the broad scientific community.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Biodiversity*
  • Computational Biology / methods
  • Databases, Protein
  • Evolution, Molecular
  • Genome*
  • Phylogeny

Grants and funding

EH received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement No 949538). The funder had and will not have a role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.