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The article chosen explores such an aspect of evolutionary biology as phylogenetic analysis. More specifically, it is known that phylogenetic analysis with the construction of a tree is a tool in the hands of biologists to study the relationship between species or strains. Such a tree makes it possible to trace not only the genetic (phylo-) proximity between taxa but also to determine approximately the dates of their evolutionary divergence, as well as to understand who could be their common ancestor. However, it is clear that since phylogenetic analysis works with vast amounts of DNA or RNA data, the statistical significance of such results requires high reliability. In this paper, Shepherd and Klaere (2019) propose several useful tests to assess the fit of a phylogenetic model to the data. Specifically, the authors go through several popular statistical tests of fit and offer a critical evaluation of them. In doing so, Bayesian statistics based on PP distributions carry a high academic weight for phylogenetic analysis, according to the authors.
As such, no new technology was cited in this study, but metaphorically, Shepherd and Klaere brought theoretical novelty to the foundations of phylogenetic analysis. More specifically, they consistently and critically delineated the limits of model fit tests to the data and determined not only the type of test that was best but also why such a test should be conducted at all. It could be said that the authors used the technology of meta-analysis of current research and critical appraisal to determine the ultimate answer: it is Bayesian statistics.
It should also be said that this article was away from all practical research discovering new species. Indeed, Shepherd and Klaere (2019) did not introduce a new taxon to the community or discover excellent metabolic properties of one of the viruses, but they seem to have done much more. The significance of their work is assessed at the level of interspecies relationships and fundamental biology, as it is clear that the number of new species will continue to grow, and the genomics will continue to become more complex. Consequently, critical analysis of fit tests is an essential part of future phylogeny, necessary to ensure the reliability, fidelity, and accuracy of sensitive results.
Reference
Shepherd, D., & Klaere, S. (2019). How well does your phylogenetic model fit your data? Systematic Biology, 68(1), 157-167.
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