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Nature Reviews Genetics 6, 654–662 (1 August 2005) | doi:10.1038/nrg1659

Molecular clocks: four decades of evolution

Sudhir Kumar

During the past four decades, the molecular-clock hypothesis has provided an invaluable tool for building evolutionary timescales, and has served as a null model for testing evolutionary and mutation rates in different species. Molecular clocks have also influenced the development of theories of molecular evolution. As DNA-sequencing technologies have progressed, the use of molecular clocks has increased, with a profound effect on our understanding of the temporal diversification of species and genomes.