Bayesian inference of phylogenetic distances: revisiting the eigenvalue approach

Using genetic data to infer evolutionary distances between molecular sequence pairs based on a Markov substitution model is a common procedure in phylogenetics, in particular for selecting a good starting tree to improve upon. Many evolutionary patterns can be accurately modelled using substitution models that are available in closed form, including the popular general time reversible model (GTR) for DNA data. For more unusual biological phenomena such as variations in lineage-specific evolutionary rates over time (heterotachy), more complex approaches uch as the GTR with rate variation (GTR +G ) are required, but do not admit analytical solutions and do not automatically allow for likelihood calculations crucial for Bayesian analysis. In this paper, we derive a hybrid approach between these two methods, incorporating G( α, α ) -distributed rate variation and heterotachy into a hierarchical Bayesian GTR-style framework. Our approach is differentiable and amenable to both stochastic gradient descent for optimisation and Hamiltonian Markov chain Monte Carlo for Bayesian inference. We show the utility of our approach by studying hypotheses regarding the origins of the eukaryotic cell within the context of a universal tree of life and find evidence for a two-domain theory.