Question

Which of the following is untrue regarding the maximum parsimony method?

(a) The analysis steps are continued for every position in the sequence alignment

(b) This method is used for large numbers of sequences

(c) Those trees that produce the smallest number of changes overall for all sequence positions are identified

(d) This method is used for sequences that are quite similar

This question was addressed to me in class test.

Question is from Maximum Parsimony Method in section Phylogenetic Tree Construction Methods and Programs of Bioinformatics

Answer 1

Right option is (b) This method is used for large numbers of sequences

The explanation is: The algorithm followed is not particularly complicated, but it is guaranteed to find the best tree, because all possible trees relating a group of sequences are examined. For this reason, the method is quite time-consuming and is not useful for data that include a large number of sequences or sequences with a large amount of variation.