This book presents the statistical methods that are useful in the study of molecular evolution and illustrates how to use them in actual data analysis. Molecular evolution has been developing at a great pace over the past decade or so, driven by the huge increase in genetic sequence data from many organisms, the improvement of high-speed microcomputers, and the development of several new methods for phylogenetic analysis. This book for graduate students and researchers, assuming a basic knowledge of evolution, molecular biology, and elementary statistics, should make it possible for many investigators to incorporate refined statistical analysis of large-scale data in their own work. Nei is one of the leading workers in this area. He and Kumar have developed a computer program called MEGA, which has been sold for about $20 to over 1900 users. For the book, the authors are thoroughly revising MEGA and will make it available via FTP. The book also included analysis using the other most popular programs for phylogenetic studies, including PAUP, PHYLIP, MOLPHY, and PAML.
Readership: Graduates and professionals
Masatoshi Nei, Evan Pugh Professor of Biology and Director, Institute of Molecular Evolutionary Genetics, Penn State University, United States, and Sudhir Kumar, Assistant Professor, Department of Biology, Arizona State University, United States
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1: Molecular basis of evolution 2: Evolutionary changes of amino acid sequences 3: Evolutionary changes of DNA sequences 4: Synonymous and nonsynonymous nucleotide substitutions 5: Phylogenetic trees 6: Phylogenetic inference: Distance methods 7: Phylogenetic inference: Maximum parsimony methods 8: Phylogenetic inference: Maximum likelihood methods 9: Accuracies and statistical tests of phylogenetic trees 10: Molecular clocks and linearized trees 11: Ancestral nucleotide and amino acid sequences 12: Genetic polymorphism and evolution 13: Population trees from genetic markers 14: Perspectives Appendices A. Mathematical sumbols and notations B. Geological timescale C. Geological events in the Cenozoic and Meszoic eras D. Evolution of organisms based on the fossil record
