A Practical Fixed-Parameter Algorithm for Constructing Tree-Child Networks from Multiple Binary Trees

We present the first fixed-parameter algorithm for constructing a tree-child phylogenetic network that displays an arbitrary number of binary input trees and has minimum reticulations among all such networks. The uses recently introduced framework cherry picking sequences runs in $$O((8k)^k \mathrm {poly}(n, t))$$ time, where n is leaves every tree, t trees, k reticulation constructed network. Moreover, we provide efficient parallel implementation show it can deal with up to 100 on standard desktop computer, thereby providing major improvement over previous construction methods.