PhyloSuite
From sequence to tree and time: Phylogenetics and molecular dating made easy with PhyloSuite
Homepage: https://dongzhang0725.github.io
Examples and test run: https://dongzhang0725.github.io/dongzhang0725.github.io/example/
Demo tutorials: https://dongzhang0725.github.io/dongzhang0725.github.io/archives/
Dong Zhang, Fangluan Gao, Ivan Jakovlić, Hong Zou, Jin Zhang, Wen X. Li and Gui T. Wang
Version 2 || November 26, 2025

1. Introduction

1.1. Background

Advancements in the next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies have resulted in a huge increase in the amount of genetic data available through public databases. While this opens a multitude of research possibilities, retrieving and managing such large amounts of data may be difficult and time-consuming for researchers who are not computer-savvy. Therefore, multifunctional, workflow-type and batch-processing enabled software packages, which can save researchers a lot of time, are becoming increasingly needed by a broad range of evolutionary biologists. PhyloSuite was designed to fill that gap: a user-friendly workflow desktop platform dedicated to streamlining molecular sequence data management and evolutionary phylogenetics studies.

1.2. Functions

PhyloSuite is a user-friendly stand-alone GUI-based software written in Python 3.6.7 and PyQT5. The functions are:

  • retrieving, extracting, organizing and managing molecular sequence data, including GenBank entries, nucleotide and amino acid sequences, and sequences annotated in Word documents;
  • batch alignment of sequences with MAFFT, for which we added a codon alignment (translation align) mode;
  • batch alignment of protein-coding sequences or refinement of alignments with MACSE;
  • batch optimization of ambiguously aligned regions using trimAl, HmmCleaner or Gblocks;
  • batch conversion of alignment formats (FASTA, PHYLIP, PAML, AXT and NEXUS);
  • concatenation of multiple alignments into a single dataset and preparation of a partition file for downstream analyses;
  • selection of the best-fit evolutionary model and/or partitioning scheme using ModelFinder or PartitionFinder;
  • phylogeny reconstruction using IQ-TREE (maximum likelihood) and/or MrBayes (Bayesian inference);
  • linking the functions from (ii) to (viii) into a workflow;
  • annotating phylogenetic trees in the iTOL webtool using datasets generated by the (i) function;
  • comprehensive bioinformatic analysis of mitochondrial genomes (mitogenomes);
  • visualization and editing of sequences using a MEGA-like sequence viewer;
  • storing, organizing and visualizing data and results of each analysis in the PhyloSuite workspace.
  • 2. License & Disclaimer

    2.1. License

    PhyloSuite is a free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it under certain conditions. It is released under the GNU General Public License, Version 3. See http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.en.html .

    2.2. Disclaimer

    This program comes with absolutely no warranty. No guarantee of the functionality of this software, or of the accuracy of results obtained, is expressed or implied. Please inspect your results carefully.

    3. Operating systems and installation

    3.1. Install compiled PhyloSuite

    Installers for all platforms can be downloaded from https://github.com/dongzhang0725/PhyloSuite/releases .

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    Chinese download links

    3.1.1. Windows

    Windows 7, 8 and 10 are supported, just double click the PhyloSuite_xxx_win_setup.exe to install, and run “PhyloSuite.exe” file after the installation. If the installation fails, download PhyloSuite_xxx_Win.rar , unzip it, and run PhyloSuite directly from this folder.

    3.1.2. Mac OSX & Linux

    Unzip PhyloSuite_xxx_Mac.zip/PhyloSuite_xxx_Linux.tar.gz to anywhere you like, and double click “PhyloSuite” (in PhyloSuite folder) to start, or use the following command:

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    cd path/to/PhyloSuite
    ./PhyloSuite

    If you encounter an error of “permission denied”, try to use the following command:

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    chmod -R 755 path/to/PhyloSuite(folder)

    Note that both 64 bit and 32 bit Windows is supported (Windows 7 and above), whereas only 64 bit has been tested in Linux (Ubuntu 14.04.1 and above) and Mac OSX (macOS Sierra version 10.12.3 and above).

    3.2. Install using pip

    First, Python (version 3.6) should be installed and added to the environment variable in your computer. Then open the terminal and type:

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    pip install PhyloSuite

    It will take some time to install. If it installs successfully, PhyloSuite will be automatically added to the environment variables. Then open the terminal again and type:

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    PhyloSuite

    If the above pip command failed to install PhyloSuite, you can use compiled PhyloSuite (see section 1 ) or find and download the source codes here ( https://pypi.org/project/PhyloSuite/#files or https://github.com/dongzhang0725/PhyloSuite ), and install it manually.

    4. Management

    4.1. Interface operation

    PhyloSuite uses a workplace for data management (although you don’t have to use it), which is set when you first use the program. Later you can change it through the WorkPlace menu. There are two kinds of root folders in each workplace, GenBank_File and Other_File . The GenBank_File folder is used to manage GenBank files and deposit the results of related analyses. The Other_File folder is used to manage other types of sequence files and Word annotation files (nucleotide and amino acid sequences), as well as deposit related results. Below (one level down) from the root folders, you will find work folders, which contain the associated results folders (another level down). In each root folder, PhyloSuite will add files and flowchart work folders by default. You can create a new work folder to deposit your new work (recommended) by mousing over the root folder (GenBank_File and Other_File), either via the green ‘plus’ icon on the right or via the context (right-click) menu. You can remove a work folder via the context menu of the selected folder or by pressing the Delete button in your keyboard. Deleted folders are stored in, and can be recovered from, the recycled folder of the root folder. Once a folder is deleted from the recycle bin, it cannot be recovered. However, it is recommended to delete folders/files from your local file system, as that will enable you to recover them using the inbuilt operating system file recovery function. Note that almost all of the selected settings, such as the window size, position, parameter settings, etc., will be remembered automatically when you close the windows (i.e., there is no need to save the settings before you close a window).

    You can access a brief example demo of each function via the question mark button in the window of the corresponding function.

    4.1.1. Brief example