Integrated pipeline for inferring the evolutionary history of a gene family embedded in the species tree: a case study on the STIMATE gene family

BACKGROUND: Because phylogenetic inference is an important basis for answering many evolutionary problems, a large number of algorithms have been developed. Some of these algorithms have been improved by integrating gene evolution models with the expectation of accommodating the hierarchy of evolutionary processes. To the best of our knowledge, however, there still is no single unifying model or algorithm that can take all evolutionary processes into account through a stepwise or simultaneous method. RESULTS: On the basis of three existing phylogenetic inference algorithms, we built an integrated pipeline for inferring the evolutionary history of a given gene family; this pipeline can model gene sequence evolution, gene duplication-loss, gene transfer and multispecies coalescent processes. As a case study, we applied this pipeline to the STIMATE (TMEM110) gene family, which has recently been reported to play an important role in store-operated Ca(2+) entry (SOCE) mediated by ORAI and STIM proteins. We inferred their phylogenetic trees in 69 sequenced chordate genomes. CONCLUSIONS: By integrating three tree reconstruction algorithms with diverse evolutionary models, a pipeline for inferring the evolutionary history of a gene family was developed, and its application was demonstrated. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1186/s12859-017-1850-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.