A simple fixed parameter tractable algorithm for computing the hybridization number of two (not necessarily binary) trees.

Here, we present a new fixed parameter tractable algorithm to compute the hybridization number r of two rooted, not necessarily binary phylogenetic trees on taxon set Χ in time (6(r)r!) · poly(n), where n = |Χ|. The novelty of this approach is its use of terminals, which are maximal elements of a natural partial order on Χ, and several insights from the softwired clusters literature. This yields a surprisingly simple and practical bounded-search algorithm and offers an alternative perspective on the underlying combinatorial structure of the hybridization number problem.