Figure 27.11 - Nearest-neighbor interchange is a method of generating alternative trees in which an internal branch in a tree is selected and then the subtrees that are connected to that branch are exchanged.

Figure 27.11. Nearest-neighbor interchange is a method of generating alternative trees in which an internal branch in a tree is selected and then the subtrees that are connected to that branch are exchanged. When used for tree searching, such as in parsimony methods, each tree would be assigned a score and the tree with the better score would serve as the starting point for further analysis. (Redrawn from http://www.hyphy.org/docs/analyses/methods/nni.html.)

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