Visual Comparison of Phylogenetic Trees Through iPhyloC, a New Interactive Web-based Framework

Abstract

Current side-by-side phylogenetic trees comparison frameworks face two issues: (1) accepting binary trees as input, and (2) assuming input trees having identical or highly overlapping taxa. We present a task abstraction of the problem of side-by-side comparison of two phylogenetic trees and propose a set-based measure for detailed structural comparison between two phylogenetic trees, which can be non-binary and not highly overlapping. iPhyloC is an interactive web-based framework including automatic identification of the common taxa in both trees, comparing input trees in several modes, intuitive design, high usability, scalability to large trees, and cross-platform support. iPhyloC was tested in hypothetical and real biological examples.