How Many Genes are Needed to Resolve Phylogenetic Incongruence?

Abstract

The question how many genes are needed to resolve phylogenetic incongruence has been investigated at various taxonomic levels, yet few studies have investigated the minimum required numbers of selected genes based on single-gene tree performance at the genus level or lower. We conducted resampling analyses by compiling transcriptome-based single-copy nuclear gene sequences of 11 species of Primulina (Gesneriaceae) to investigate the minimum numbers of both random and selected genes needed to resolve the phylogeny. Only 8 of the 26 selected genes were sufficient for full resolution, while 175 genes were needed if all 830 random genes were used. Our results provided a baseline for future sampling strategies of gene numbers in molecular phylogenetic studies of speciose taxa. The gene selection strategies based on single-gene tree performance are strongly recommended in phylogenic analyses.