In the eight years since phylogenomics was introduced as the intersection of genomics and
phylogenetics, the field has provided fundamental insights into gene function, genome history
and organismal relationships. The utility of phylogenomics is growing with the increase
in the number and diversity of taxa for which whole genome and large transcriptome sequence
sets are being generated. We assert that the synergy between genomic and phylogenetic
perspectives in comparative biology would be enhanced by the development and refinement
of minimal reporting standards for phylogenetic analyses. Encouraged by the
development of the Minimum Information About a Microarray Experiment (MIAME) standard,
we propose a similar roadmap for the development of a Minimal Information About
a Phylogenetic Analysis (MIAPA) standard. Key in the successful development and implementation
of such a standard will be broad participation by developers of phylogenetic analysis
software, phylogenetic database developers, practitioners of phylogenomics, and journal
editors.
This paper is part of the special issue of OMICS on data standards.
