raxmlGUI 2.0: A graphical interface and toolkit for phylogenetic analyses using RAxML

Abstract

raxmlGUI is a graphical user interface to RAxML, one of the most popular and widely used softwares for phylogenetic inference using maximum likelihood. Here we present raxmlGUI 2.0, a complete rewrite of the GUI which seamlessly integrates RAxML binaries for all major operating systems with an intuitive graphical front-end to setup and run phylogenetic analyses. Our program offers automated pipelines for analyses that require multiple successive calls of RAxML, built-in functions to concatenate alignment files while automatically specifying the appropriate partition settings, and one-click model testing to select the best substitution models using ModelTest-NG. In addition to RAxML 8.x, raxmlGUI 2.0 also supports the new RAxML-NG, which provides new functionality and higher performance on large datasets. raxmlGUI 2.0 facilitates phylogenetic analyses by coupling an intuitive interface with the unmatched performance of RAxML.