Question

The basic assumption of the UPGMA method is that all taxa evolve at a constant rate and that they are equally distant from the root, implying that a molecular clock is in effect.

(a) True

(b) False

I had been asked this question by my college professor while I was bunking the class.

I would like to ask this question from Distance Based Methods in portion Phylogenetic Tree Construction Methods and Programs of Bioinformatics

Answer 1

Right option is (a) True

To elaborate: However, real data rarely meet this assumption. Thus, UPGMA often produces erroneous tree topologies. However, owing to its fast speed of calculation, it has found extensive usage in clustering analysis of DNA microarray data.