Inferring Phylogenetic Trees from Chromosome Inversion Data

Farris, J. S. (Department of Ecology and Evolution, State University of New York, Stony Brook, New York 11794) 1978. Inferring phylogenetic trees from chromosome inversion data. Syst. Zool. 27:275-284.-The assumption of uniqueness of evolutionary origin of chromosome inversion types is shown not to be adequate to determine phylogenetic reconstructions, but it can be combined with other principles to yield a method of phylogenetic inference. A model is proposed under which the most likely phylogenetic hypothesis given a set of chromosome inversion data can be identified as the most parsimonious tree for those data, a unique origin of each inversion type being assumed. When applied in this way, the method of parsimony can provide information on the ancestral types of inversions. Phylogenetic inferences based on chromosome inversions are thus seen to rest on just the same logical basis as do those from other types of characters. [Chromosomal inversions; phylogenetic inference;