Bio::Taxonomy::Taxon(3)

NAME
Bio::Taxonomy::Taxon - Generic Taxonomic Entity object

SYNOPSIS
    use Bio::Taxonomy::Taxon;
    my $taxonA = new Bio::Taxonomy::Taxon();
    my $taxonL = new Bio::Taxonomy::Taxon();
    my $taxonR = new Bio::Taxonomy::Taxon();

    my $taxon = new Bio::Taxonomy::Taxon();
    $taxon->add_Descendents($nodeL);
    $taxon->add_Descendents($nodeR);

    $species = $taxon->species;

DESCRIPTION
Makes a taxonomic unit suitable for use in a taxonomic tree

CONTACT
Dan Kortschak email kortschak@rsbs.anu.edu.au

APPENDIX
The rest of the documentation details each of the object methods. Internal methods are usually preceded with a _

  new
 Title   : new
 Usage   : my $obj = new Bio::Taxonomy::Taxon();
 Function: Builds a new Bio::Taxonomy::Taxon object
 Returns : Bio::Taxonomy::Taxon
 Args    : -descendents   => array pointer to descendents (optional)
           -branch_length => branch length [integer] (optional)
           -taxon     => taxon
           -id     => unique taxon id for node (from NCBI's list preferably)
           -rank  => the taxonomic level of the node (also from NCBI)

  add_Descendent
 Title   : add_Descendent
 Usage   : $taxon->add_Descendant($taxon);
 Function: Adds a descendent to a taxon
 Returns : number of current descendents for this taxon
 Args    : Bio::Taxonomy::Taxon
           boolean flag, true if you want to ignore the fact that you are
           adding a second node with the same unique id (typically memory
           location reference in this implementation).  default is false and
           will throw an error if you try and overwrite an existing node.

  each_Descendent
 Title   : each_Descendent($sortby)
 Usage   : my @taxa = $taxon->each_Descendent;
 Function: all the descendents for this taxon (but not their descendents
                                              i.e. not a recursive fetchall)
 Returns : Array of Bio::Taxonomy::Taxon objects
 Args    : $sortby [optional] "height", "creation" or coderef to be used
           to sort the order of children taxa.

  remove_Descendent
 Title   : remove_Descendent
 Usage   : $taxon->remove_Descedent($taxon_foo);
 Function: Removes a specific taxon from being a Descendent of this taxon
 Returns : nothing
 Args    : An array of Bio::taxonomy::Taxon objects which have be previously
           passed to the add_Descendent call of this object.

  remove_all_Descendents
 Title   : remove_all_Descendents
 Usage   : $taxon->remove_All_Descendents()
 Function: Cleanup the taxon's reference to descendents and reset
           their ancestor pointers to undef, if you don't have a reference
           to these objects after this call they will be cleanedup - so
           a get_nodes from the Tree object would be a safe thing to do first
 Returns : nothing
 Args    : none

  get_Descendents
 Title   : get_Descendents
 Usage   : my @taxa = $taxon->get_Descendents;
 Function: Recursively fetch all the taxa and their descendents
           *NOTE* This is different from each_Descendent
 Returns : Array or Bio::Taxonomy::Taxon objects
 Args    : none

  ancestor
 Title   : ancestor
 Usage   : $taxon->ancestor($newval)
 Function: Set the Ancestor
 Returns : value of ancestor
 Args    : newvalue (optional)

  branch_length
 Title   : branch_length
 Usage   : $obj->branch_length($newval)
 Function:
 Example :
 Returns : value of branch_length
 Args    : newvalue (optional)

  description
 Title   : description
 Usage   : $obj->description($newval)
 Function:
 Example :
 Returns : value of description
 Args    : newvalue (optional)

  rank
 Title   : rank
 Usage   : $obj->rank($newval)
 Function: Set the taxonomic rank
 Example :
 Returns : taxonomic rank of taxon
 Args    : newvalue (optional)

  taxon
 Title   : taxon
 Usage   : $obj->taxon($newtaxon)
 Function: Set the name of the taxon
 Example :
 Returns : name of taxon
 Args    : newtaxon (optional)

  id
 Title   : id
 Usage   : $obj->id($newval)
 Function:
 Example :
 Returns : value of id
 Args    : newvalue (optional)

  internal_id
 Title   : internal_id
 Usage   : my $internalid = $taxon->internal_id
 Function: Returns the internal unique id for this taxon
           (a monotonically increasing number for this in-memory implementation
            but could be a database determined unique id in other
            implementations)
 Returns : unique id
 Args    : none

  _creation_id
 Title   : _creation_id
 Usage   : $obj->_creation_id($newval)
 Function: a private method signifying the internal creation order
 Returns : value of _creation_id
 Args    : newvalue (optional)

  is_Leaf
 Title   : is_Leaf
 Usage   : if( $node->is_Leaf )
 Function: Get Leaf status
 Returns : boolean
 Args    : none

  to_string
 Title   : to_string
 Usage   : my $str = $taxon->to_string()
 Function: For debugging, provide a taxon as a string
 Returns : string
 Args    : none

  height
 Title   : height
 Usage   : my $len = $taxon->height
 Function: Returns the height of the tree starting at this
           taxon.  Height is the maximum branchlength.
 Returns : The longest length (weighting branches with branch_length) to a leaf
 Args    : none

  invalidate_height
 Title   : invalidate_height
 Usage   : private helper method
 Function: Invalidate our cached value of the taxon's height in the tree
 Returns : nothing
 Args    : none

  classify
 Title   : classify
 Usage   : @obj->classify()
 Function: a method to return the classification of a species
 Returns : name of taxon and ancestor's taxon recursively
 Args    : boolean to specify whether we want all taxa not just ranked
levels

  has_rank
 Title   : has_rank
 Usage   : $obj->has_rank($rank)
 Function: a method to query ancestors' rank
 Returns : boolean
 Args    : $rank

  has_taxon
 Title   : has_taxon
 Usage   : $obj->has_taxon($taxon)
 Function: a method to query ancestors' taxa
 Returns : boolean
 Args    : Bio::Taxonomy::Taxon object

  distance_to_root
 Title   : distance_to_root
 Usage   : $obj->distance_to_root
 Function: a method to query ancestors' taxa
 Returns : number of links to root
 Args    :

  recent_common_ancestor
 Title   : recent_common_ancestor
 Usage   : $obj->recent_common_ancestor($taxon)
 Function: a method to query find common ancestors
 Returns : Bio::Taxonomy::Taxon of query or undef if no ancestor of rank
 Args    : Bio::Taxonomy::Taxon

  species
 Title   : species
 Usage   : $obj=$taxon->species;
 Function: Returns a Bio::Species object reflecting the taxon's tree position
 Returns : a Bio::Species object
 Args    : none