Computational challenges in constructing the tree of life

Estimating the Tree of Life is one of the grand computational challenges in Science, and has applications to many areas of science and biomedical research. Despite intensive research over the last several decades, many problems remain inadequately solved. Relatively small datasets can take hundreds of CPU years (e.g., the Avian Phylogenomics Project analysis of just 48 bird genomes used more than 200 CPU years to construct its tree), and larger datasets will require much more time. Thus, the estimation of the Tree of Life, which contains millions of species each with a genome containing millions of nucleotides, will depend on both novel algorithmic designs and effective use of high performance and distributed computing platforms.