BIOINF3310 Phylogeny and Evolution
| Lecturer | Prof. Daniel Huson |
| Lectures | Thursdays, 16:15-18h, C118a, Sand 14 |
| Assignments | Assignments will be made available every Thursdays at 16:00h via Ilias. Solutions are due by the following Thursdays at 16:00h. |
| Tutorials | Tutorials: Tuesdays, 16:15-18h, C118a, Sand 14 Participation is mandatory. First tutorial is on *Thursday*, 30.10 (otherwise Tuesdays) |
| Exam | Written exam |
| Audience | Bachelor students, bioinformatics and medical informatics, 6 LP Master students, bioinformatics |
| Language | English |
| Links | Alma Ilias |
Contents
This course gives an introduction to the basic concepts and methods of phylogenetics, with an emphasis on phylogenetic networks.
Here is a tentative schedule:
| Date | Topic | Assignments |
|---|---|---|
| 16.10. | 1. Graphs and trees | Assignment 1 |
| 23.10. | 2. Counting trees and tree neighborhoods | Assignment 2 |
Lecture this week: Tuesday 28.10. Tutorial: Thursday, 30.10. | 3. Maximum parsimony (Some overlap with Sequence Bioinformatics) | Assignment 3 |
| 6.11. | 4. A simple model of evolution (Some overlap with Sequence Bioinformatics) | Assignment 4 |
| 13.11. | 6. Distance-based method (Some overlap with Sequence Bioinformatics) | Assignment 5 |
| 20.11. | 7. Rooted trees and networks | Assignment 6 |
| 27.11. | continued | Assignment 7 |
| 04.12. | 8. Unrooted trees and networks | Assignment 8 |
| 11.12. | continued | Assignment 9 |
| 18.12. | 9. Consensus trees and networks | Assignment 10 |
| 8.01. | 10. Neighbor net | Assignment 11 |
| 15.01. | 11. Phylogenetic outlines | Assignment 12 |
| 22.01. | 12. Phylogenetic diversity | Assignment 13 |
| 29.01. | TBA | Practice exam |
| 05.02. | EXAM, TBA |
There will be a makeup exam on 31.3.2026 10-12h (or similar, not fixed yet) . Please send an email to Prof. Daniel Huson if you intend to participate in this exam.
Recommended textbooks
- Stadler et al, Decoding Genomes: From Sequences to Phylodynamics, decodinggenomes.org, 2024.
- Huson, Rupp und Scornavacca, Phylogenetic Networks, Cambridge University Press, 2010
- Felsenstein, Inferring Phylogenies, Sinauer, 2004
How to get credit for this course
- Always participate in the weekly problem sessions and actively present your results. If you miss more than two tutorials, then you will not be allowed to take the exam.
- Assignments are set weekly and are due the following week.
- Obtain at least 50% of all points.
- Pass the exam.