GenPhyloData: realistic simulation of gene family evolution.

Sjöstrand J, Arvestad L, Lagergren J, Sennblad B

BMC Bioinformatics 14 (-) 209 [2013-06-27; online 2013-06-27]

PrIME-GenPhyloData is a suite of tools for creating realistic simulated phylogenetic trees, in particular for families of homologous genes. It supports generation of trees based on a birth-death process and--perhaps more interestingly--also supports generation of gene family trees guided by a known (synthetic or biological) species tree while accounting for events such as gene duplication, gene loss, and lateral gene transfer (LGT). The suite also supports a wide range of branch rate models enabling relaxation of the molecular clock. Simulated data created with PrIME-GenPhyloData can be used for benchmarking phylogenetic approaches, or for characterizing models or model parameters with respect to biological data. The concept of tree-in-tree evolution can also be used to model, for instance, biogeography or host-parasite co-evolution.

Affiliated researcher

PubMed 23803001

DOI 10.1186/1471-2105-14-209

Crossref 10.1186/1471-2105-14-209

pii: 1471-2105-14-209
pmc: PMC3703295


Publications 9.5.0