It is a known fact that, given two rooted binary phylogenetic trees, the concept of maximum acyclic agreement forests is sufficient to compute hybridization networks with minimum hybridization number. In this work, we demonstrate by first presenting an algorithm and then showing its correctness, that this concept is also sufficient in the case of multiple input trees. More precisely, we show that for computing minimum hybridization networks for multiple rooted binary phylogenetic trees on the same set of taxa it suffices to take only maximum acyclic agreement forests into account. Moreover, this article contains a proof showing that the minimum hybridization number for a set of rooted binary phylogenetic trees on the same set of taxa can be also computed by solving subproblems referring to common clusters of the input trees.
The well-known work of Baroni @cite_11 contains a proof showing that the hybridization number of rooted binary phylogenetic @math -trees can be computed by simply summing up the hybridization numbers of its common clusters. More precisely, given two rooted binary phylogenetic @math -trees @math and @math containing a common cluster @math , then @math , where @math and @math refers to the respective input tree in which the common cluster has been replaced by a new taxon @math .
@cite_11
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We describe some new and recent results that allow for the analysis and representation of reticulate evolution by nontree networks. In particular, we (1) present a simple result to show that, despite the presence of reticulation, there is always a well-defined underlying tree that corresponds to those parts of life that do not have a history of reticulation; (2) describe and apply new theory for determining the smallest number of hybridization events required to explain conflicting gene trees; and (3) present a new algorithm to determine whether an arbitrary rooted network can be realized by contemporaneous reticulation events. We illustrate these results with examples.