Phylogenomics: A Primer

Phylogenomicsintroduces undergraduate and graduate students to the field of phylogenomics, the discipline that integrates evolutionary biology and genomics. The book presents an overview of the interlinking aspects of molecular biology, systematics, and bioinformatics; describes phylogenomic techniques such as PCR, CLUSTAL, and neighbor joining; and provides guidelines for navigating relevant databases such as GenBank, BLAST, and EDGAR. In a clear and readable style, it explains the essential concepts underlying homology, sequence alignment, parsimony analysis, maximum likelihood, Bayesian inference, population genetics, genome-wide association studies, tree building, and DNA barcoding. The inclusion of problem-solving exercises in each chapter provides students with a solid grasp of the important molecular and evolutionary questions facing modern biologists as well as the tools needed to answer them.