Matthew J. Phillips

TL;DR: In this paper, the authors introduce a new approach to perform relaxed phylogenetic analysis, which can be used to estimate phylogenies and divergence times in the face of uncertainty in evolutionary rates and calibration times.

TL;DR: Using Bayesian analysis with a relaxed-clock model, the authors estimated rates for three groups of mitochondrial data: avian protein coding genes, primate protein-coding genes, and primate d-loop sequences.

TL;DR: The estimation of phylogenetic divergence times from sequence data is an important component of many molecular evolutionary studies, and a variety of local- and relaxed-clock methods have been proposed and implemented.

TL;DR: A variety of local and relaxed clock methods have been proposed and implemented for phylogenetic divergence dating as discussed by the authors, which allows different molecular clocks in different parts of the phylogenetic tree, thereby retaining the advantages of the classical molecular clock while casting off the restrictive assumption of a single, global rate of substitution.

TL;DR: An overview of the current understanding of time-dependent rates in animals, bacteria and viruses is presented and the challenges in calibrating estimates of molecular rates are described, particularly on the intermediate timescales that are critical for an accurate characterization of time‐dependent rates.