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Francesc Rossello

Publications and source records attributed to Francesc Rossello.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2018

Sound Colless-like balance indices for multifurcating trees

The Colless index is one of the most popular and natural balance indices for bifurcating phylogenetic trees, but it makes no sense for multifurcating trees. In this paper we propose a family of Colless-like balance indices $\mathfrak{C}_{D,f}$, which depend on a dissimilarity $D$ and a function $f:\mathbb{N}\to \mathbb{R}_{\geq 0}$, that generalize the Colless index to multifurcating phylogenetic trees. We provide two functions $f$ such that the most balanced phylogenetic trees according to the corresponding indices $\mathfrak{C}_{D,f}$ are exactly the fully symmetric ones. Next, for each one of these two functions $f$ and for three popular dissimilarities $D$ (the variance, the standard deviation, and the mean deviation from the median), we determine the range of values of $\mathfrak{C}_{D,f}$ on the sets of phylogenetic trees with a given number $n$ of leaves. We end the paper by assessing the performance of one of these indices on TreeBASE and using it to show that the trees in this database do not seem to follow either the uniform model for multifurcating trees or the $α$-$γ$-model, for any values of $α$ and $γ$.

q-bio.PE↗
arXiv2013

The expected value of the squared euclidean cophenetic metric under the Yule and the uniform models

The cophenetic metrics $d_{φ,p}$, for $p\in {0}\cup[1,\infty[$, are a recent addition to the kit of available distances for the comparison of phylogenetic trees. Based on a fifty years old idea of Sokal and Rohlf, these metrics compare phylogenetic trees on a same set of taxa by encoding them by means of their vectors of cophenetic values of pairs of taxa and depths of single taxa, and then computing the $L^p$ norm of the difference of the corresponding vectors. In this paper we compute the expected value of the square of $d_{φ,2}$ on the space of fully resolved rooted phylogenetic trees with $n$ leaves, under the Yule and the uniform probability distributions.

q-bio.PE↗
arXiv2013

Cophenetic metrics for phylogenetic trees, after Sokal and Rohlf

Phylogenetic tree comparison metrics are an important tool in the study of evolution, and hence the definition of such metrics is an interesting problem in phylogenetics. In a paper in Taxon fifty years ago, Sokal and Rohlf proposed to measure quantitatively the difference between a pair of phylogenetic trees by first encoding them by means of their half-matrices of cophenetic values, and then comparing these matrices. This idea has been used several times since then to define dissimilarity measures between phylogenetic trees but, to our knowledge, no proper metric on weighted phylogenetic trees with nested taxa based on this idea has been formally defined and studied yet. Actually, the cophenetic values of pairs of different taxa alone are not enough to single out phylogenetic trees with weighted arcs or nested taxa. In this paper we define a family of cophenetic metrics that compare phylogenetic trees on a same set of taxa by encoding them by means of their vectors of cophenetic values of pairs of taxa and depths of single taxa, and then computing the $L^p$ norm of the difference of the corresponding vectors. Then, we study, either analytically or numerically, some of their basic properties: neighbors, diameter, distribution, and their rank correlation with each other and with other metrics.

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arXiv2012

Exact formulas for the variance of several balance indices under the Yule model

One of the main applications of balance indices is in tests of null models of evolutionary processes. The knowledge of an exact formula for a statistic of a balance index, holding for any number n of leaves, is necessary in order to use this statistic in tests of this kind involving trees of any size. In this paper we obtain exact formulas for the variance under the Yule model of the Sackin index, the Colless index and the total cophenetic index of binary rooted phylogenetic trees with n leaves. We also obtain the covariance of the Sackin and the total cophenetic index.

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arXiv2012

Ternary graph isomorphism in polynomial time, after Luks

The graph isomorphism problem has a long history in mathematics and computer science, with applications in computational chemistry and biology, and it is believed to be neither solvable in polynomial time nor NP-complete. E. Luks proposed in 1982 the best algorithm so far for the solution of this problem, which moreover runs in polynomial time if an upper bound for the degrees of the nodes in the graphs is taken as a constant. Unfortunately, Luks' algorithm is purely theoretical, very difficult to use in practice, and, in particular, we have not been able to find any implementation of it in the literature. The main goal of this paper is to present an efficient implementation of this algorithm for ternary graphs in the SAGE system, as well as an adaptation to fully resolved rooted phylogenetic networks on a given set of taxa.

cs.DM↗
arXiv2012

The expected value under the Yule model of the squared path-difference distance

The path-difference metric is one of the oldest and most popular distances for the comparison of phylogenetic trees, but its statistical properties are still quite unknown. In this paper we compute the expected value under the Yule model of evolution of its square on the space of fully resolved rooted phylogenetic trees with n leaves. This complements previous work by Steel-Penny and Mir-Rosselló, who computed this mean value for fully resolved unrooted and rooted phylogenetic trees, respectively, under the uniform distribution.

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arXiv2012

A new balance index for phylogenetic trees

Several indices that measure the degree of balance of a rooted phylogenetic tree have been proposed so far in the literature. In this work we define and study a new index of this kind, which we call the total cophenetic index: the sum, over all pairs of different leaves, of the depth of their least common ancestor. This index makes sense for arbitrary trees, can be computed in linear time and it has a larger range of values and a greater resolution power than other indices like Colless' or Sackin's. We compute its maximum and minimum values for arbitrary and binary trees, as well as exact formulas for its expected value for binary trees under the Yule and the uniform models of evolution. As a byproduct of this study, we obtain an exact formula for the expected value of the Sackin index under the uniform model, a result that seems to be new in the literature.

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arXiv2010

A metric for galled networks

Galled networks, directed acyclic graphs that model evolutionary histories with reticulation cycles containing only tree nodes, have become very popular due to both their biological significance and the existence of polynomial time algorithms for their reconstruction. In this paper we prove that Nakhleh's $m$ measure is a metric for this class of phylogenetic networks and hence it can be safely used to evaluate galled network reconstruction methods.

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arXiv2009

The mean value of the squared path-difference distance for rooted phylogenetic trees

The path-difference metric is one of the oldest distances for the comparison of fully resolved phylogenetic trees, but its statistical properties are still quite unknown. In this paper we compute the mean value of the square of the path-difference metric between two fully resolved rooted phylogenetic trees with $n$ leaves, under the uniform distribution. This complements previous work by Steel and Penny, who computed this mean value for fully resolved unrooted phylogenetic trees.

q-bio.PE↗
arXiv2009

Comparison of Galled Trees

Galled trees, directed acyclic graphs that model evolutionary histories with isolated hybridization events, have become very popular due to both their biological significance and the existence of polynomial time algorithms for their reconstruction. In this paper we establish to which extent several distance measures for the comparison of evolutionary networks are metrics for galled trees, and hence when they can be safely used to evaluate galled tree reconstruction methods.

q-bio.PE↗
arXiv2009

All that Glisters is not Galled

Galled trees, evolutionary networks with isolated reticulation cycles, have appeared under several slightly different definitions in the literature. In this paper we establish the actual relationships between the main four such alternative definitions: namely, the original galled trees, level-1 networks, nested networks with nesting depth 1, and evolutionary networks with arc-disjoint reticulation cycles.

cs.DM↗
arXiv2009

The comparison of tree-sibling time consistent phylogenetic networks is graph isomorphism-complete

In a previous work, we gave a metric on the class of semibinary tree-sibling time consistent phylogenetic networks that is computable in polynomial time; in particular, the problem of deciding if two networks of this kind are isomorphic is in P. In this paper, we show that if we remove the semibinarity condition above, then the problem becomes much harder. More precisely, we proof that the isomorphism problem for generic tree-sibling time consistent phylogenetic networks is polynomially equivalent to the graph isomorphism problem. Since the latter is believed to be neither in P nor NP-complete, the chances are that it is impossible to define a metric on the class of all tree-sibling time consistent phylogenetic networks that can be computed in polynomial time.

q-bio.PE↗
arXiv2008

On Nakhleh's latest metric for phylogenetic networks

We prove that Nakhleh's latest dissimilarity measure for phylogenetic networks is a metric on the classes of tree-child phylogenetic networks, of semi-binary time consistent tree-sibling phylogenetic networks, and of multi-labeled phylogenetic trees. We also prove that it distinguishes phylogenetic networks with different reduced versions. In this way, it becomes the dissimilarity measure for phylogenetic networks with the strongest separation power available so far.

q-bio.PE↗
arXiv2008

Path lengths in tree-child time consistent hybridization networks

Hybridization networks are representations of evolutionary histories that allow for the inclusion of reticulate events like recombinations, hybridizations, or lateral gene transfers. The recent growth in the number of hybridization network reconstruction algorithms has led to an increasing interest in the definition of metrics for their comparison that can be used to assess the accuracy or robustness of these methods. In this paper we establish some basic results that make it possible the generalization to tree-child time consistent (TCTC) hybridization networks of some of the oldest known metrics for phylogenetic trees: those based on the comparison of the vectors of path lengths between leaves. More specifically, we associate to each hybridization network a suitably defined vector of `splitted' path lengths between its leaves, and we prove that if two TCTC hybridization networks have the same such vectors, then they must be isomorphic. Thus, comparing these vectors by means of a metric for real-valued vectors defines a metric for TCTC hybridization networks. We also consider the case of fully resolved hybridization networks, where we prove that simpler, `non-splitted' vectors can be used.

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arXiv2008

Nodal distances for rooted phylogenetic trees

Dissimilarity measures for (possibly weighted) phylogenetic trees based on the comparison of their vectors of path lengths between pairs of taxa, have been present in the systematics literature since the early seventies. But, as far as rooted phylogenetic trees goes, these vectors can only separate non-weighted binary trees, and therefore these dissimilarity measures are metrics only on this class. In this paper we overcome this problem, by splitting in a suitable way each path length between two taxa into two lengths. We prove that the resulting splitted path lengths matrices single out arbitrary rooted phylogenetic trees with nested taxa and arcs weighted in the set of positive real numbers. This allows the definition of metrics on this general class by comparing these matrices by means of metrics in spaces of real-valued $n\times n$ matrices. We conclude this paper by establishing some basic facts about the metrics for non-weighted phylogenetic trees defined in this way using $L^p$ metrics on these spaces of matrices.

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arXiv2008

A Distance Metric for Tree-Sibling Time Consistent Phylogenetic Networks

The presence of reticulate evolutionary events in phylogenies turn phylogenetic trees into phylogenetic networks. These events imply in particular that there may exist multiple evolutionary paths from a non-extant species to an extant one, and this multiplicity makes the comparison of phylogenetic networks much more difficult than the comparison of phylogenetic trees. In fact, all attempts to define a sound distance measure on the class of all phylogenetic networks have failed so far. Thus, the only practical solutions have been either the use of rough estimates of similarity (based on comparison of the trees embedded in the networks), or narrowing the class of phylogenetic networks to a certain class where such a distance is known and can be efficiently computed. The first approach has the problem that one may identify two networks as equivalent, when they are not; the second one has the drawback that there may not exist algorithms to reconstruct such networks from biological sequences. We present in this paper a distance measure on the class of tree-sibling time consistent phylogenetic networks, which generalize tree-child time consistent phylogenetic networks, and thus also galled-trees. The practical interest of this distance measure is twofold: it can be computed in polynomial time by means of simple algorithms, and there also exist polynomial-time algorithms for reconstructing networks of this class from DNA sequence data. The Perl package Bio::PhyloNetwork, included in the BioPerl bundle, implements many algorithms on phylogenetic networks, including the computation of the distance presented in this paper.

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