On the PhyloQuant protein expression profiles approach to the taxonomic problem

Abstract

Inferring evolutionary relationships among organisms has been a fundamental problem in evolutionary biology. The current phylogenetic molecular methods serve as the baseline model to test new evolutionary hypotheses with taxonomic purposes. Leishmaniinae trypanosomatids subfamily includes protozoan parasites of clinical importance to humans. They have an intricate taxonomic history defined by morphological elements, host range, and molecular phylogenies. Unraveling the increasing diversity of this group has shown limitations in reconstructing the true evolutionary relationships among Trypanosomatidae species. Toward the goal of inferring evolutionary relationships that help to resolve phylogenetic and taxonomic controversies among parasites of the subfamily Leishmaniinae, Mule et al. propose the method PhyloQuant as a valuable approach, based on differential protein expression obtained from high throughput mass spectrometry data. Employing a pioneering methodological approach, Mule et al. assess the taxonomic problem for species hypothesis within Leishmaniinae, from quantitative phenetic protein expression profiles, in contrast to the standard multilocus phylogenetic approaches.