Using the Multiple Analysis Approach to Reconstruct Phylogenetic Relationships among Planktonic Foraminifera from Highly Divergent and Length-polymorphic SSU rDNA Sequences

The high sequence divergence within the small subunit ribosomal RNA gene (SSU rDNA) of foraminifera makes it difficult to establish the homology of individual nucleotides across taxa. Alignment-based approaches so far relied on time-consuming manual alignments and discarded up to 50% of the sequence...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ralf Aurahs, Markus Göker, Guido W. Grimm, Vera Hemleben, Christoph Hemleben, Ralf Schiebel, Michal Kučera
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: SAGE Publishing 2009-11-01
Series:Bioinformatics and Biology Insights
Online Access:http://la-press.com/using-the-multiple-analysis-approach-to-reconstruct-phylogenetic-relat-a1734
_version_ 1811258517149974528
author Ralf Aurahs
Markus Göker
Guido W. Grimm
Vera Hemleben
Christoph Hemleben
Ralf Schiebel
Michal Kučera
author_facet Ralf Aurahs
Markus Göker
Guido W. Grimm
Vera Hemleben
Christoph Hemleben
Ralf Schiebel
Michal Kučera
author_sort Ralf Aurahs
collection DOAJ
description The high sequence divergence within the small subunit ribosomal RNA gene (SSU rDNA) of foraminifera makes it difficult to establish the homology of individual nucleotides across taxa. Alignment-based approaches so far relied on time-consuming manual alignments and discarded up to 50% of the sequenced nucleotides prior to phylogenetic inference. Here, we investigate the potential of the multiple analysis approach to infer a molecular phylogeny of all modern planktonic foraminiferal taxa by using a matrix of 146 new and 153 previously published SSU rDNA sequences. Our multiple analysis approach is based on eleven different automated alignments, analysed separately under the maximum likelihood criterion. The high degree of congruence between the phylogenies derived from our novel approach, traditional manually homologized culled alignments and the fossil record indicates that poorly resolved nucleotide homology does not represent the most significant obstacle when exploring the phylogenetic structure of the SSU rDNA in planktonic foraminifera. We show that approaches designed to extract phylogenetically valuable signals from complete sequences show more promise to resolve the backbone of the planktonic foraminifer tree than attempts to establish strictly homologous base calls in a manual alignment.
first_indexed 2024-04-12T18:14:55Z
format Article
id doaj.art-6d758312562e42a6afd17d370b8fccf6
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 1177-9322
language English
last_indexed 2024-04-12T18:14:55Z
publishDate 2009-11-01
publisher SAGE Publishing
record_format Article
series Bioinformatics and Biology Insights
spelling doaj.art-6d758312562e42a6afd17d370b8fccf62022-12-22T03:21:40ZengSAGE PublishingBioinformatics and Biology Insights1177-93222009-11-0120093155177Using the Multiple Analysis Approach to Reconstruct Phylogenetic Relationships among Planktonic Foraminifera from Highly Divergent and Length-polymorphic SSU rDNA SequencesRalf AurahsMarkus GökerGuido W. GrimmVera HemlebenChristoph HemlebenRalf SchiebelMichal KučeraThe high sequence divergence within the small subunit ribosomal RNA gene (SSU rDNA) of foraminifera makes it difficult to establish the homology of individual nucleotides across taxa. Alignment-based approaches so far relied on time-consuming manual alignments and discarded up to 50% of the sequenced nucleotides prior to phylogenetic inference. Here, we investigate the potential of the multiple analysis approach to infer a molecular phylogeny of all modern planktonic foraminiferal taxa by using a matrix of 146 new and 153 previously published SSU rDNA sequences. Our multiple analysis approach is based on eleven different automated alignments, analysed separately under the maximum likelihood criterion. The high degree of congruence between the phylogenies derived from our novel approach, traditional manually homologized culled alignments and the fossil record indicates that poorly resolved nucleotide homology does not represent the most significant obstacle when exploring the phylogenetic structure of the SSU rDNA in planktonic foraminifera. We show that approaches designed to extract phylogenetically valuable signals from complete sequences show more promise to resolve the backbone of the planktonic foraminifer tree than attempts to establish strictly homologous base calls in a manual alignment.http://la-press.com/using-the-multiple-analysis-approach-to-reconstruct-phylogenetic-relat-a1734
spellingShingle Ralf Aurahs
Markus Göker
Guido W. Grimm
Vera Hemleben
Christoph Hemleben
Ralf Schiebel
Michal Kučera
Using the Multiple Analysis Approach to Reconstruct Phylogenetic Relationships among Planktonic Foraminifera from Highly Divergent and Length-polymorphic SSU rDNA Sequences
Bioinformatics and Biology Insights
title Using the Multiple Analysis Approach to Reconstruct Phylogenetic Relationships among Planktonic Foraminifera from Highly Divergent and Length-polymorphic SSU rDNA Sequences
title_full Using the Multiple Analysis Approach to Reconstruct Phylogenetic Relationships among Planktonic Foraminifera from Highly Divergent and Length-polymorphic SSU rDNA Sequences
title_fullStr Using the Multiple Analysis Approach to Reconstruct Phylogenetic Relationships among Planktonic Foraminifera from Highly Divergent and Length-polymorphic SSU rDNA Sequences
title_full_unstemmed Using the Multiple Analysis Approach to Reconstruct Phylogenetic Relationships among Planktonic Foraminifera from Highly Divergent and Length-polymorphic SSU rDNA Sequences
title_short Using the Multiple Analysis Approach to Reconstruct Phylogenetic Relationships among Planktonic Foraminifera from Highly Divergent and Length-polymorphic SSU rDNA Sequences
title_sort using the multiple analysis approach to reconstruct phylogenetic relationships among planktonic foraminifera from highly divergent and length polymorphic ssu rdna sequences
url http://la-press.com/using-the-multiple-analysis-approach-to-reconstruct-phylogenetic-relat-a1734
work_keys_str_mv AT ralfaurahs usingthemultipleanalysisapproachtoreconstructphylogeneticrelationshipsamongplanktonicforaminiferafromhighlydivergentandlengthpolymorphicssurdnasequences
AT markusgoumlker usingthemultipleanalysisapproachtoreconstructphylogeneticrelationshipsamongplanktonicforaminiferafromhighlydivergentandlengthpolymorphicssurdnasequences
AT guidowgrimm usingthemultipleanalysisapproachtoreconstructphylogeneticrelationshipsamongplanktonicforaminiferafromhighlydivergentandlengthpolymorphicssurdnasequences
AT verahemleben usingthemultipleanalysisapproachtoreconstructphylogeneticrelationshipsamongplanktonicforaminiferafromhighlydivergentandlengthpolymorphicssurdnasequences
AT christophhemleben usingthemultipleanalysisapproachtoreconstructphylogeneticrelationshipsamongplanktonicforaminiferafromhighlydivergentandlengthpolymorphicssurdnasequences
AT ralfschiebel usingthemultipleanalysisapproachtoreconstructphylogeneticrelationshipsamongplanktonicforaminiferafromhighlydivergentandlengthpolymorphicssurdnasequences
AT michalkucera usingthemultipleanalysisapproachtoreconstructphylogeneticrelationshipsamongplanktonicforaminiferafromhighlydivergentandlengthpolymorphicssurdnasequences