Molecular Biology and Evolution, Vol 15, 442-448, Copyright © 1998 by Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution
A Rambaut and L Bromham
The ability to date the time of divergence between lineages using molecular
data provides the opportunity to answer many important questions in
evolutionary biology. However, molecular dating techniques have previously
been criticized for failing to adequately account for variation in the rate
of molecular evolution. We present a maximum- likelihood approach to
estimating divergence times that deals explicitly with the problem of rate
variation. This method has many advantages over previous approaches
including the following: (1) a rate constancy test excludes data for which
rate heterogeneity is detected; (2) date estimates are generated with
confidence intervals that allow the explicit testing of hypotheses
regarding divergence times; and (3) a range of sequences and fossil dates
are used, removing the reliance on a single calculated calibration rate. We
present tests of the accuracy of our method, which show it to be robust to
the effects of some modes of rate variation. In addition, we test the
effect of substitution model and length of sequence on the accuracy of the
dating technique. We believe that the method presented here offers
solutions to many of the problems facing molecular dating and provides a
platform for future improvements to such analyses.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Estimating divergence dates from molecular sequences
Department of Zoology, University of Oxford. andrew.rambaut@zoo.ox.ac.uk
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