Machine learning can be as good as maximum likelihood when reconstructing phylogenetic trees and determining the best evolutionary model on four taxon alignments

• Verfasst von: Kulikov, Nikita [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Derakhshandeh, Fatemeh [VerfasserIn]
• Verfasst von: Mayer, Christoph [VerfasserIn]
• Titel: Machine learning can be as good as maximum likelihood when reconstructing phylogenetic trees and determining the best evolutionary model on four taxon alignments
• Verf.angabe: Nikita Kulikov, Fatemeh Derakhshandeh, Christoph Mayer
• E-Jahr: 2024
• Jahr: November 2024
• Umfang: 12 S.
• Illustrationen: Illustrationen
• Fussnoten: Online verfügbar 30 August 2024, Version des Artikels 30 August 2024 ; Gesehen am 14.02.2025
• Titel Quelle: Enthalten in: Molecular phylogenetics and evolution
• Ort Quelle: Orlando, Fla. : Academic Press, 1992
• Jahr Quelle: 2024
• Band/Heft Quelle: 200(2024) vom: Nov., Artikel-ID 108181, Seite 1-12
• ISSN Quelle: 1095-9513
• DOI: doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2024.108181
• Datenträger: Online-Ressource
• Sprache: eng
• Sach-SW: Machine learning
• Sach-SW: Neural network
• Sach-SW: Phylogenetic tree reconstruction
• Sach-SW: Phylogeny
• Sach-SW: Substitution model selection
• K10plus-PPN: 1917242034

Abstract

Phylogenetic tree reconstruction with molecular data is important in many fields of life science research. The gold standard in this discipline is the phylogenetic tree reconstruction based on the Maximum Likelihood method. In this study, we present neural networks to predict the best model of sequence evolution and the correct topology for four sequence alignments of nucleotide or amino acid sequence data. We trained neural networks with different architectures using simulated alignments for a wide range of evolutionary models, model parameters and branch lengths. By comparing the accuracy of model and topology prediction of the trained neural networks with Maximum Likelihood and Neighbour Joining methods, we show that for quartet trees, the neural network classifier outperforms the Neighbour Joining method and is in most cases as good as the Maximum Likelihood method to infer the best model of sequence evolution and the best tree topology. These results are consistent for nucleotide and amino acid sequence data. We also show that our method is superior for model selection than previously published methods based on convolutionary networks. Furthermore, we found that neural network classifiers are much faster than the IQ-TREE implementation of the Maximum Likelihood method. Our results show that neural networks could become a true competitor for the Maximum Likelihood method in phylogenetic reconstructions.