Microbial philogenetic analysis using molecular data: a review

Abstract

The idea of ​​designing and scheming biological evolution through phylogenetic trees probably started with the development of the classification system by Linnaeus in the 18th century, giving rise to phylogeny. The study of evolutionary relationships between organisms has long been explored by science and for a long time these processes were analyzed using morphological and behavioral data. In recent decades this has changed significantly thanks to the development of molecular biology techniques and the emergence of molecular phylogenetics. Beginning in 2005, with the development and democratization of DNA sequencing techniques, known as New Generation Sequencing (NGS), a new large-scale sequencing approach was allowed, leading to an exponential increase in the volume of information available on the genetic characteristics of organisms. The capacity that these techniques have to solve issues of great complexity has promoted phylogenetic analysis into essential tools for an increasing diversity of research areas. It is known that the manual processing of such a large volume of information becomes unfeasible, hence the need to develop tools capable of working with huge databases. From that need bioinformatics arises, which is an interdisciplinary field of science that combines biology, computer science, statistics, mathematics and engineering to promote proper analysis, interpretation and processing of these biological data. This study presents a narrative review on the main concepts and methodologies applied to evolutionary models and phylogenetic reconstruction, aiming to contextualize and provide subsidies for a better understanding of the steps of a phylogenetic analysis to researchers who want to use this tool in their studies.