Which Phylogenetic Networks are Level-k Networks with Additional Arcs? Structure and Algorithms

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Main Authors: Suzuki, Takatora, Hayamizu, Momoko
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Suzuki, Takatora
Hayamizu, Momoko
author_facet Suzuki, Takatora
Hayamizu, Momoko
contents Reticulate evolution gives rise to complex phylogenetic networks, making their interpretation challenging. A typical approach is to extract trees within such networks. Since Francis and Steel's seminal paper, "Which Phylogenetic Networks are Merely Trees with Additional Arcs?" (2015), tree-based phylogenetic networks and their support trees (spanning trees with the same root and leaf set as a given network) have been extensively studied. However, not all phylogenetic networks are tree-based, and for the study of reticulate evolution, it is often more biologically relevant to identify support networks rather than trees. This study generalizes Hayamizu's structure theorem for rooted binary phylogenetic networks, which yielded optimal algorithms for various computational problems on support trees, to extend the theoretical framework for support trees to support networks. This allows us to obtain a direct-product characterization of each of three sets: all, minimal, and minimum support networks, for a given network. Each characterization yields optimal algorithms for counting and generating the support networks of each type. Applications include a linear-time algorithm for finding a support network with the fewest reticulations (i.e., the minimum tier). We also provide exact and heuristic algorithms for finding a support network with the minimum level, both running in exponential time but practical across a reasonably wide range of reticulation numbers.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_11947
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Which Phylogenetic Networks are Level-k Networks with Additional Arcs? Structure and Algorithms
Suzuki, Takatora
Hayamizu, Momoko
Combinatorics
Discrete Mathematics
Populations and Evolution
05C20 (Primary), 05C30, 05C70, 05C75, 05C85, 11B39, 92D15 (Secondary)
Reticulate evolution gives rise to complex phylogenetic networks, making their interpretation challenging. A typical approach is to extract trees within such networks. Since Francis and Steel's seminal paper, "Which Phylogenetic Networks are Merely Trees with Additional Arcs?" (2015), tree-based phylogenetic networks and their support trees (spanning trees with the same root and leaf set as a given network) have been extensively studied. However, not all phylogenetic networks are tree-based, and for the study of reticulate evolution, it is often more biologically relevant to identify support networks rather than trees. This study generalizes Hayamizu's structure theorem for rooted binary phylogenetic networks, which yielded optimal algorithms for various computational problems on support trees, to extend the theoretical framework for support trees to support networks. This allows us to obtain a direct-product characterization of each of three sets: all, minimal, and minimum support networks, for a given network. Each characterization yields optimal algorithms for counting and generating the support networks of each type. Applications include a linear-time algorithm for finding a support network with the fewest reticulations (i.e., the minimum tier). We also provide exact and heuristic algorithms for finding a support network with the minimum level, both running in exponential time but practical across a reasonably wide range of reticulation numbers.
title Which Phylogenetic Networks are Level-k Networks with Additional Arcs? Structure and Algorithms
topic Combinatorics
Discrete Mathematics
Populations and Evolution
05C20 (Primary), 05C30, 05C70, 05C75, 05C85, 11B39, 92D15 (Secondary)
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.11947