Cophylogeny Reconstruction Allowing for Multiple Associations Through Approximate Bayesian Computation

TL;DR

This paper introduces AmoCoala, a novel tool that improves cophylogeny reconciliation by modeling spread events, allowing for multiple host-symbiont associations, leading to more accurate and biologically plausible coevolution scenarios.

Contribution

AmoCoala extends existing reconciliation methods by incorporating spread events, enabling modeling of multiple associations and improving cost estimation accuracy.

Findings

AmoCoala produces biologically plausible reconciliation scenarios.

Inclusion of spread events improves model accuracy.

The tool is publicly available at GitHub.

Abstract

Phylogenetic tree reconciliation is employed for the examination of coevolution between host and symbiont species. An important concern is the requirement for dependable cost values when selecting event-based parsimonious reconciliation. Although certain approaches deduce event probabilities unique to each pair of host and symbiont trees, which can subsequently be converted into cost values, a significant limitation lies in their inability to model the invasion of diverse host species by the same symbiont species (termed as a spread event), which is believed to occur in symbiotic relationships. Invasions lead to the observation of multiple associations between symbionts and their hosts (indicating that a symbiont is no longer exclusive to a single host), which are incompatible with the existing methods of coevolution. We present AmoCoala, an enhanced version of the tool Coala, that provides a more realistic estimation of cophylogeny event probabilities for a given pair of host and symbiont trees, even in the presence of spread events. We expand the classical 4-event coevolutionary model to include 2 additional spread events (vertical and horizontal spreads) that lead to multiple associations. By incorporating spread events, our reconciliation model enables a more accurate consideration of multiple associations. This improvement enhances the precision of estimated cost sets, paving the way to a more reliable reconciliation of host and symbiont trees. Our results showcase that AmoCoala produces biologically plausible reconciliation scenarios, further emphasizing its effectiveness. The software is accessible at https://github.com/sinaimeri/AmoCoala