Phylogenetic inference

Final Step:

The final step in the molecular process is phylogenetic inference, following these techniques:

• Once the alignment is complete, these sequences can be uploaded into various phylogenetic programs (such as RAxML, MrBayes, etc.) that will use various algorithms to calculate the most strongly supported topology
• Generally, several different programs/methods will be used for a single tree due to the variations in statistical analysis used for each method
• The tree presents a hypothesis of the evolution of and relationships between the taxa of interest, and, as such, may be compared to what is known of morphology, life history, etc.