Phylogenetics

Phylogenetic methods allow us to reconstruct the evolutionary history of, and relationships between, organisms from features such as gene and genome sequences. Here, you will use these approaches to obtain evidence about the likely order and route of transmission of bacterial isolates in the context in this study.

In 13  Building a Phylogenetic Tree, you will construct a phylogenetic tree from the aligned SNPs (single-nucleotide polymorphisms) of a set of isolates from rooms 6, 9, and 11 - and a reference isolate believed to have existed prior to the study. You will visualise the tree you construct in 14  Visualising the Phylogenetic Tree, and use it to propose a potential order of events for infection and transmission in this burns ward.