Creating Phylogenetic Trees from DNA Sequences: HHMI BioInteractive

DNA sequence data can be used to determine evolutionary relationships among organisms. But how is it done? This interactive guides students through the process of aligning DNA sequences from different organisms so that they can be compared to one another. Students will then learn how phylogenetic trees are generated and interpreted.

Advance through the Click & Learn by selecting the navigation buttons at the sides of each page, or use the Previous and Next links at the bottom of each page on mobile devices.

This resource is optimized for use on computers and mobile devices. It is supported by the most recent versions of Google Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, and Safari web browsers.

This resource has been designed, optimized, and tested for accessibility compliance (WCAG Level 2.1 AA Success Criteria).

Submit comments, questions, or feedback about this resource via email to biointeractive@hhmi.org.

Developed By

Dennis Liu, PhD, HHMI
Laura Helft, PhD, HHMI
Satoshi Amagai, PhD, HHMI
Laura Bonetta, PhD, HHMI

Scientific Review By

Peter Skewes-Cox, Novartis

Written By

Laura Helft, PhD, HHMI

Graphic Design By

Heather McDonald
Bill Pietsch, A3MG

Videos and Animations By

Blake Porch, HHMI
Christopher Vargas, HHMI

UI/UX Design and Development

Bill Pietsch, A3MG
Davey Thomas, A3MG

References and Sources

Barber, R.D. and Maiers, J. A “Game” Introduction to Bioinformatic Sequence Comparisons. The American Biology Teacher 69: 359-364.
Baum, D.A., et al. The Tree-Thinking Challenge. 2005 Science 310: 979-980.
Baum, D.A. and Offner, S. Phylogenies and Tree-Thinking. 2008 The American Biology Teacher 70: 222-229.
Gibas, C. and Jambeck, P. Developing Bioinformatics Computer Skills, 1st ed. 2001, O’Reilly & Associates, Inc.
Meir, E. et al. College Students’ Misconceptions about Evolutionary Trees. 2007 The American Biology Teacher Online 71-76.
EBI ClustalW2 website, http://www.ebi.ac.uk/Tools/msa/clustalw2/.
Photos: Wet specimens, Herrera/Thinkstock; corn snake, gorilla, chimpanzee, lizard, apples to oranges, iStockphoto/Thinkstock; bearded dragon, BrandXPictures/Thinkstock; orangutan, Anup Shah/Photodisc/Thinkstock; cone snail tree figure, Fig. 1 from Olivera, Journal of Biological Chemistry 281 (2006): 31175 ©The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology