Phylogenetic combinatorics is a branch of discrete applied mathematics concerned with the combinatorial description and analysis of phylogenetic trees and related mathematical structures such as phylogenetic networks and tight spans. Based on a natural conceptual framework, the book focuses on the interrelationship between the principal options for encoding phylogenetic trees: split systems, quartet systems and metrics. Such encodings provide useful options for analyzing and manipulating phylogenetic trees and networks, and are at the basis of much of phylogenetic data processing. This book highlights how each one provides a unique perspective for viewing and perceiving the combinatorial structure of a phylogenetic tree and is, simultaneously, a rich source for combinatorial analysis and theory building. Graduate students and researchers in mathematics and computer science will enjoy exploring this fascinating new area and learn how mathematics may be used to help solve topical problems arising in evolutionary biology.

Annotation This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of the 10th International Workshop on Algorithms in Bioinformatics, WABI 2010, held in Liverpool, UK, in September 2010. The 30 revised full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 83 submissions. The papers are organized in topical sections on biomolecular structure: RNA, protein and molecular comparison; comparative genomics; haplotype and genotype analysis; high-throughput data analysis: next generation sequencing and flow cytometry; networks; phylogenetics; and sequences, strings and motifs.