Fast algorithm for the reconciliation of gene trees and LGT networks

Abstract

In phylogenomics, reconciliations aim at explaining the discrepancies between the evolutionary histories of genes and species. Several reconciliation models are available when the evolution of the species of interest is modelled via phylogenetic trees; the most commonly used are the DL model, accounting for duplications and losses in gene evolution and yielding polynomially-solvable problems, and the DTL model, which also accounts for gene transfers and implies NP-hard problems. However, when dealing with non-tree-like evolutionary events such as hybridisations, phylogenetic networks – and not phylogenetic trees – should be used to model species evolution. Reconciliation models involving phylogenetic networks are still at their early days.In this paper, we propose a new reconciliation model in which the evolution of species is modelled by a special kind of phylogenetic networks – the LGT networks. Our model considers duplications, losses and transfers of genes, but restricts transfers to happen through some specific arcs of the network, called secondary arcs. Moreover, we provide a polynomial algorithm to compute the most parsimonious reconciliation between a gene tree and an LGT network under this model. Our method, when combined with quartet decomposition methods to detect putative “highways” of transfers, permits to refine their analyses by allowing to examine the two possible directions of a highway and even consider combinations of highways.