Interpretive Tools

Abstract

Once molecular data have been gathered, how are they analyzed and interpreted in a phylogenetic context? The answer, of course, depends on the particular biological problem addressed and the nature of the molecular information. The biological settings are nearly as diverse as one’s imagination allows. The interpretive tools are those of population genetics and phylogenetics. Some approaches to molecular data analysis are highly idiosyncratic to a particular biological problem or data base (examples appear throughout Part II), whereas others are standard and generalizable. This chapter will introduce some of the fundamentally important principles and procedures in this latter class of analytical tools.

Thus the hereditary properties of any given organism could be characterized by a long number written in a four-digital system.

G. Gamow, 1954