On Two Graph-Theoretic Characterizations of Tree Compatibility

Abstract: Deciding whether a collection of unrooted trees is compatible is a fundamental problem in phylogenetics. Two different graph-theoretic characterizations of tree compatibility have recently been proposed. In one of these, tree compatibility is characterized in terms of the existence of a specific kind of triangulation in a structure known as the display graph. An alternative characterization expresses the tree compatibility problem as a chordal graph sandwich problem in a structure known as the edge label intersection graph. In this paper we show that the characterization using edge label intersection graphs transforms to a characterization in terms of minimal cuts of the display graph. We show how these two characterizations are related to compatibility of splits. We also show how the characterization in terms of minimal cuts of display graph is related to the characterization in terms of triangulation of the display graph.