Perfect phylogeny is one of the fundamental models for studying evolution.
The characters are binary and directed, i.e., a species can only gain characters. The difference from standard perfect phylogeny is that for some species the state of some characters is unknown. The question is whether one can complete the missing states in a way admitting a perfect phylogeny. The problem arises in classical phylogenetic studies, when some states are missing or undetermined. Quite recently, studies that infer phylogenies using inserted repeat elements in DNA gave rise to the same problem.