Molecular Evolution (Bioinformatics IV)

Welcome to our class!

In this class, we will consider the following two central biological questions (the computational approaches needed to solve them are shown in parentheses):

1. Weeks 1-3: Which Animal Gave Us SARS? (Evolution...
2. Week 2 - Week 2: More Algorithms for Constructing Trees from Distance Matrices
   

   Welcome to Week 2 of class!

   Last week, we started to see how evolutionary trees can be constructed from distance matrices.  This week, we will encounter additional algorithms for this purpose, including the neighbor-joining algorithm, which has...

3. Week 3 - Week 3: Constructing Evolutionary Trees from Characters
   

   Welcome to week 3 of class!

   Over the last two weeks, we have seen several different algorithms for constructing evolutionary trees from distance matrices.

   This week, we will conclude the current chapter by considering what happens if we use ...

4. Week 4 - Week 4
   

   Welcome to week 4 of the class!

   Did birds evolve from dinosaurs? Over the next two weeks, we will see how we could analyze molecular evidence in support of this theory. You can find this week's Bioinformatics Cartoon from Randall Christopher at the ...

5. Week 5 - Week 5: Resolving the T. rex Peptides Mystery?
   

   Welcome to week 5 of class!

   Last week, we asked whether it is possible for dinosaur peptides to survive locked inside of a fossil for 65 million years. This week, we will see what this question has to do with statistics; in the process, we will see ...

6. Week 6 - Week 6: Bioinformatics Application Challenge
   

   Welcome to the sixth and final week of the course!

   In this week's Bioinformatics Application Challenge, we will use reconstruct an evolutionary tree of ebolaviruses and use it to determine the origin of the pathogen that caused the recent outbreak i...