# Attaching leaves and picking cherries to characterise the hybridisation number for a set of phylogenies

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/1712.04131 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/1712.04131/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 12 Dec 2017.

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Constructing Phylogenetic Networks via Cherry Picking and Machine Learning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2304.02729/) (2023)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Throughout the last decade, we have seen much progress towards characterising and computing the minimum hybridisation number for a set P of rooted phylogenetic trees. Roughly speaking, this minimum quantifies the number of hybridisation events needed to explain a set of phylogenetic trees by simultaneously embedding them into a phylogenetic network. From a mathematical viewpoint, the notion of agreement forests is the underpinning concept for almost all results that are related to calculating the minimum hybridisation number for when |P|=2. However, despite various attempts, characterising this number in terms of agreement forests for |P|>2 remains elusive. In this paper, we characterise the minimum hybridisation number for when P is of arbitrary size and consists of not necessarily binary trees. Building on our previous work on cherry-picking sequences, we first establish a new characterisation to compute the minimum hybridisation number in the space of tree-child networks. Subsequently, we show how this characterisation extends to the space of all rooted phylogenetic networks. Moreover, we establish a particular hardness result that gives new insight into some of the limitations of agreement forests.