Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Phylogenetic Methods For Testing Significant Codivergence Between Host Species And Their Symbionts, Skyler Speakman

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

Significant phylogenetic codivergence between plant or animal hosts (H) and their symbionts or parasites (P) indicate the importance of their interactions on evolutionary time scales. However, valid and realistic methods to test for codivergence are not fully developed. One of the systems where possible codivergence has been of interest involves the large subfamily of temperate grasses (Pooideae) and their endophytic fungi (epichloae). Here we introduce the MRCALink (most-recent-common-ancestor link) method and use it to investigate the possibility of grass-epichloё codivergence. MRCALink applied to ultrametric H and P trees identifies all corresponding nodes for pairwise comparisons of …