# To combine tree supports from two analyses onto one tree¶

You will often analyse the same data with two different methods, each of which gives you a tree with support values, but you may want to summarize the results of both trees using a single tree figure. The trees may differ in topology, or they may be the same. Even if they are the same topology, the branch lengths may differ. One approach is to consider one tree to be the “master” tree, giving the figure its topology and branch lengths, but you then somehow combine the split supports from the other tree onto the master.

Consider these two trees:

#          +-------------- E
#   +------|0.84
#   |      +----------- B
#   |
#   |-------- G
#   |
#   |                      +-------- C
#   |                      |
#   |               +------|0.90          +-------------- D
#   |               |      |      +-------|0.95
#   |               |      |      |       +----------- F
#   |               |      +------|0.87
#   |       +-------|0.95         |       +------------ H
#   |       |       |             +-------|0.88
#   |       |       |                     +-------------------- A
#   +-------|0.59   |
#           |       +-------------- I
#           |
#           +--------------- J
#
#           +--------------- D
#   +-------|73
#   |       +------------- F
#   |
#   |       +-------------- H
#   |-------|77
#   |       +---------------------- A
#   |
#   |               +-------- C
#   |       +-------|86
#   |       |       +---------------- I
#   |       |
#   +-------|88      +---------------- J
#           |        |
#           +--------|58             +--------------- E
#                    |       +-------|98
#                    +-------|99     +------------ B
#                            |
#                            +-------- G


These two trees are both fully resolved, and mostly have the same splits – there is only one NNI difference (can you see that?). If we make the first tree the master tree, it is a fairly easy job to merge the split supports from the second tree onto that first tree, as shown below.

Doing the combining “by hand” is an option, but for bigger trees (which may share only some of the same splits) the task becomes onerous, time-consuming, and error-prone. The process can be automated, and one way to do that is shown here. The process involves assigning numbers to each split in both trees; those numbers being a numerical equivalent of the “dot-star” notation for splits — for example .**.** might be binary 011011. Since the taxa are the same in both trees, and in the same order, those numbers can be used by each split in the master tree to find the same split (if it exists) in the other tree. Then the supports can be combined:

#          +-------------- E
#   +------|0.84/98
#   |      +----------- B
#   |
#   |-------- G
#   |
#   |                      +-------- C
#   |                      |
#   |               +------|0.90/-        +-------------- D
#   |               |      |      +-------|0.95/73
#   |               |      |      |       +----------- F
#   |               |      +------|0.87/88
#   |       +-------|0.95/58      |       +------------ H
#   |       |       |             +-------|0.88/77
#   |       |       |                     +-------------------- A
#   +-------|0.59/99|
#           |       +-------------- I
#           |
#           +--------------- J


To start, we need a valid list of taxnames, which we might get from an alignment:

a = func.readAndPop('myData.nex')
# Now a.taxNames has the list we want


We read in and name our two trees, and make sure they both have the same taxNames:

tMaster = func.readAndPop('myMainTree.nex')

tMaster.taxNames = a.taxNames
tSecondary.taxNames = a.taxNames


At this point we are set up and good to go:

# Split keys are numerical versions of the 'dot-star' split notation.
# The same split on the two trees would have the same split key.
tMaster.makeSplitKeys()
tSecondary.makeSplitKeys()

# Make a dictionary, so that we can fish out nodes in the secondary tree
# given a split key.  Split keys are found on node branches, here
# n.br.
myDict = {}
for n in tSecondary.iterInternalsNoRoot():
myDict[n.br.splitKey] = n

for nM in tMaster.iterInternalsNoRoot():
# Given a split key in the master tree, we can find the
# corresponding node in the secondary tree, using the split key with
# the dictionary.
nS = myDict.get(nM.br.splitKey)
# If there was none, then nS is None
if nS:
nM.name = '%s/%s' % (nM.name, nS.name)
else:
nM.name = '%s/-' % nM.name
#print nM.name
tMaster.writeNexus('combinedSupportsTree.nex')


There is an example of this in share/Examples/F_picture/E_combiningSplitSupports.