The Bayesian "star paradox" persists for long finite sequences

Mol Biol Evol. 2007 Apr;24(4):1075-9. doi: 10.1093/molbev/msm028. Epub 2007 Feb 13.

Abstract

The "star paradox" in phylogenetics is the tendency for a particular resolved tree to be sometimes strongly supported even when the data is generated by an unresolved ("star") tree. There have been contrary claims as to whether this phenomenon persists when very long sequences are considered. This note settles one aspect of this debate by proving mathematically that the chance that a resolved tree could be strongly supported stays above some strictly positive number, even as the length of the sequences becomes very large.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Algorithms
  • Bayes Theorem*
  • Models, Genetic*
  • Phylogeny*