New efficient algorithm for detection of horizontal gene transfer events

Abstract

This article addresses the problem of detection of horizontal gene transfers (HGT) in evolutionary data. We describe a new method allowing to predict the ways of possible HGT events which may have occurred during the evolution of a group of considered organisms. The proposed method proceeds by establishing differences between topologies of species and gene phylogenetic trees. Then, it uses a least-squares optimization procedure to test the possibility of horizontal gene transfers between any couple of branches of the species tree. In the application section we show how the introduced method can be used to predict eventual transfers of the rubisco rbcL gene in the molecular phylogeny including plastids, cyanobacteria, and proteobacteria. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2003.