Felsenstein's tree-pruning algorithm

In statistical genetics, Felsenstein's tree-pruning algorithm (or Felsenstein's tree-peeling algorithm), due to Joseph Felsenstein, is an algorithm for computing the likelihood of an evolutionary tree from nucleic acid sequence data.

The algorithm is often used as a subroutine in a search for a maximum likelihood estimate for an evolutionary tree. Further, it can be used in a hypothesis test for whether evolutionary rates are constant (by using likelihood ratio tests). It can also be used to provide error estimates for the parameters describing an evolutionary tree.

References

• Felsenstein, Joseph (1973). "Maximum likelihood and minimum-steps methods for estimating evolutionary trees from data on discrete characters". Systematic Zoology. 22 (3): 240–249.

• Felsenstein, Joseph (1981). "Evolutionary trees from DNA sequences: a maximum likelihood approach". J Mol Evol. 17 (6): 368–376. doi:10.1007/BF01734359. PMID 7288891.