And here I thought evolutionary theory wasn't useful

[Jose Fly]

Stumbled across this today...

The Salmonella In Silico Typing Resource (SISTR): An Open Web-Accessible Tool for Rapidly Typing and Subtyping Draft Salmonella Genome Assemblies

The researchers describe a new bioinformatics tool that allows for rapid sequencing and analysis of salmonella strains. And what framework is this tool based on? The authors tell us...

We show how phylogenetic context from cgMLST analysis can supplement the genoserotyping analysis and increase the accuracy of in silico serovar prediction to over 94.6% on a dataset comprised of 4,188 finished genomes and WGS draft assemblies.​

For those who don't know, "phylogenetic context" means "evolutionary relatedness" (because phylogenetics is "the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among individuals or groups of organisms").

And of what use is this new tool? Again, the authors tell us...

rapid in silico analysis of minimally processed draft genome assemblies provides a powerful approach for molecular epidemiology in support of public health investigations.​

So much for that whole "evolution doesn't contribute to medicine" claptrap. :wave:

 

[musterion]

No, you were right the first time.

 

[Jose Fly]

Then what are we supposed to do with this new tool? Throw it out just because you don't like what it's based on? :idunno:

 

[Nick M]

I didn't read his links. No reason to do it. I wonder if they come with a hockey stick.

 

[chair]

Anything about evolution posted here should come with a trigger warning and a bucket of sand that people can stick their heads in .