Before revision:  This method , called Critical Variable Selection (CVS), affords predictions that are significantly different from those of methods based on pairwise correlations, and it recovers biologically relevant sites , including highly conserved ones.
After revision:  The method proposed here is complementary to Statistical Coupling Analysis, in that the most relevant sites predicted by the two methods markedly differ. We find robust and consistent results for datasets as small as few hundred sequences, that reveal a hidden hierarchy of sites that is consistent with present knowledge on biologically relevant sites , including highly conserved ones.