Topological metrizations of trees, and new quartet methods of tree inference

Abstract

Topological phylogenetic trees can be assigned edge weights in several natural ways, highlighting different aspects of the tree. Here the rooted triple and quartet metrizations are introduced, and applied to formulate novel fast methods of inferring large trees from rooted triple and quartet data. These methods can be applied in new statistically consistent procedures for inference of a species tree from gene trees under the multispecies coalescent model.