The neighbor-joining
algorithm is commonly applied with distance tree building,
regardless of the optimization criterion. The fully resolved
tree is ‘‘decomposed’’ from a fully unresolved ‘‘star’’ tree
by successively inserting branches between a pair of
closest (actually, most isolated) neighbors and the
remaining terminals in the tree. The closest neighbor pair
is then consolidated, effectively reforming a star tree, and the process
is
repeated.
The method is
comparatively
rapid.