On the existence of infinitely many universal tree-based networks

Abstract

A tree-based network on a set $X$ of $n$ leaves is said to be universal if any rooted binary phylogenetic tree on $X$ can be its base tree. Francis and Steel showed that there is a universal tree-based network on $X$ in the case of $n=3$, and asked whether such a network exists in general. We settle this problem by proving that there are infinitely many universal tree-based networks for any $n>1$.