Phylogenetics Syllabus and Reading Assignments - Fall, Mini-2 2012

The materials in the "Assigned Reading" column are directly related to the topics covered in class. Readings under "Additional Topics" are strictly optional and will not be covered on the exams.

Readings from:
Inferring Phylogenies Felsenstein, Sinauer Associates; 2 edition (September 4, 2003)
Molecular Evolution: A Phylogenetic Approach. Page and Holmes, Wiley-Blackwell, 1st ed. (1998)

CLASS
DATE
TOPICS
ASSIGNED READING
ADDITIONAL TOPICS
1. Oct. 23
Introduction to phylogenetics.
Tree properties
Lecture notes

Concept review
Problem set 1 , due Oct 30th.  
Read:
Page and Holmes Ch. 1 and 2
Understanding Evolutionary Trees
Gregory, 2008.
Review:
You should already be familiar with the material on gene and genome organization in the first half of Ch. 3 of Page and Holmes. Look over pp 37-62 to make sure you know it. If not, read it carefully.
Felsenstein, Ch. 10: History and philosophy. Read: pp: 123-138.
2. Oct. 25
Introduction to phylogenetics.
Overview of tree reconstruction
lecture notes

Concept review
Projects

Read:
Page and Holmes Ch.3: pp. 63-77.
Page and Holmes
Ch. 3: pp. 77-87. Non-coding repetitive DNA, transposable elements.
Jody Hey on species concepts.
3. Oct. 30 Character data. Reconstructing evolutionary change on a tree
Lecture notes

Concept review

  • Problem set 1 due in class
  • Problem set 2 due Nov. 6th.
  • Read:
    Page and Holmes 5.1: Sequence alignment, homology
    Page and Holmes 5.3: Evolutionary change on a tree
     
    4. Nov. 1 Multiple Sequence alignment
    Lecture notes

    Concept review
    Multiple sequence alignment
    Pevsner, Ch. 6
    Jalview reference card
    Additional jalview info
    Jalview tutorial Screencast
    Other jalview documentation
    Additional jalview info
    Jalview tutorial Screencast
    Other jalview documentation
    5. Nov. 6
    Phylogeny reconstruction.
    Parsimony methods. Lecture notes
    Problem set 2 due in class.

    Practicum 1;
    Worksheet to hand in.;
      phospholipase A2 sequences;  
    Page and Holmes,
    Introduction to tree methods (6.1.0 - 6.1.3), pp. 172-178.
    Discrete methods (6.3) and Parsimony (6.4.0 - 6.4.3), pp. 187-191
     
    6. Nov. 8
    Phylogeny reconstruction.
    Maximum likelihood estimation. Lecture notes
    Project plans due by midnight; email to comp-bio@cs.cmu.edu
       
    7. Nov. 13   Substitution models and model selection Lecture notes

    Read:
    Reading guide
    Kosiol et al. J. Biomed. Info., 2006.
    Page and Holmes 6.5: Maximum likelihood estimation
    Page and Holmes 5.3: Genetic distance
     
    8. Nov. 15 Substitution models and model selection Lecture notes

      See pp. 454-458 of Sullivan and Joyce, 2005 for more information on the Akaike and Bayesian Information Criteria.

      Nov. 20   No lecture. Optional software demo and Q&A session.

    Practicum 1 due

    Practicum 2
    ; due Nov 29
    Worksheet to hand in.;
    Trimmed MSA of PA2 sequences. Or use your own. (This will be available after all Practicum 1 assignments have been turned in.)
    Species list
       
      Nov. 22 No class (Thanksgiving Holiday)    
    9. Nov. 27   Distance based methods, Lecture notes

    Page and Holmes,
    Distance based methods (6.2), pp. 179-186.
       
    10. Nov. 29 Assessing phylogenetic accuracy, potential pitfalls Lecture notes

    Practicum 3; due Dec 7
    Worksheet to hand in.;
    Gene tree, Species tree, Species list.
    Page and Holmes,
    Comparing tree methods
    Bases for comparison (6.1.4), pp. 178 - 179.
    Pbs with distance methods (6.2.4), pp. 185 - 187.
    Parsimony, Likelihood (6.5.3, 6.5.4), pp. 199 - 201
    Assessing tree quality
    Splits, section 6.6, pp. 201-208, but skip Box 6.5
    True tree, section 6.7, pp. 209-216
    Bootstrapping, section 6.8, but skip 6.83; pp. 216-222,225-227
     
    11. Dec. 4 Gene family evolution, gene duplication
    Lecture notes

    Page and Holmes,
    Comparing tree methods
    Gene trees and species trees, pp. 30, 31.
    The evolution of multigene families (3.3.2), pp. 73 - 77
     
    12. Dec. 6 Gene family evolution, horizontal transfer
    Lecture notes

       
      Dec. 17 Final Exam:   8:30am - 11:30am,   Location TBA
       


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    Last modified: April 25, 2013.
    Maintained by Dannie Durand (durand@cs.cmu.edu).