Molecular Evolution and Phylogenetics in Bioinformatics

How do scientists trace the history of life and discover the origins of viruses or ancient species? The answer lies in molecular evolution, where we use computational methods to decode the evolutionary relationships hidden within DNA and protein sequences. This course guides you through the core concepts and algorithms used to construct phylogenetic trees and analyze molecular data. You will transition from understanding basic genetic mutations to reconstructing evolutionary histories using modern computational biology workflows. What you'll learn: - Understand the foundational mechanisms of molecular evolution, gene duplication, and sequence divergence. - Apply distance-based and character-based algorithms to construct accurate phylogenetic trees. - Analyze genetic data using probabilistic models, including maximum likelihood and modern Bayesian inference approaches. - Compare DNA and protein sequences using modern alignment tools and Python-based bioinformatics libraries. - Interpret evolutionary trees to solve biological mysteries, such as tracing disease outbreaks or identifying common ancestors. You will begin by mastering essential biological terminology and evolutionary concepts before moving on to step-by-step written explanations of tree-building algorithms. Through structured text-based explanations and written exercises, you will practice evaluating evolutionary models and analyzing sequence data. This course is designed for beginners in bioinformatics, biology students, or software developers looking to transition into computational biology, with no advanced prior knowledge required. Start your journey into the history of genomes and learn to decode the evolutionary past today.