Divergence time estimation using a single gene

Question

[anuragmishra1009]

Hi, I have a single gene data for some species, and I am interested in using this data to estimate divergence times. I have reliable time calibrations. Is there any potential pitfall of using a single gene for time estimation after codon partitioning?

Answer 1

[SES]

The caveat with this is approach is that genes evolve at different rates across the genome, so getting divergence times for one gene would be seen as a source of bias in your estimates. The typical approach would be to have a concatenated alignment of multiple genes, which you can then assign to different rate classes with something like BEAST. Depending on what gene you have it could be that you get reliable estimates for some purposes, but it would be better to incorporate more data, if possible.