Final answer:
There are tools available that can convert phylogenetic trees with branch lengths representing time in millions of years into chronograms displaying absolute time points. The Newick format can facilitate this transformation, providing a timeline of evolutionary events in absolute terms.
Step-by-step explanation:
Phylogenetic trees are visual representations of evolutionary relationships, indicating how species diverge over time from a common ancestor. In some cases, phylogenetic trees are annotated with branch lengths that symbolize the time passed since divergence, quantified in units such as millions of years. When these branch lengths are not merely symbolic but represent actual time intervals, as evidenced by fossils or molecular data, the phylogenetic tree can be transformed into a chronogram. A chronogram visually represents the evolution of lineages against a timeline, providing absolute time points for evolutionary events.
Tools do exist to convert phylogenetic trees into chronograms, particularly when branch lengths represent time in a standard format like the Newick format - which is indeed capable of representing timed events in a tree structure. These conversion tools use algorithms and molecular data (such as mutation rates) to construct a timeline. By assessing proteins' conservation and known protein-RNA interactions, scientists can infer the evolutionary timelines for related organisms or biological molecules, refining molecular clocks based on this evidence.
Importantly, while decoding evolutionary history from phylogenetic trees and converting them into chronograms, we need to understand that the process may have complexities due to the possibility of variable mutation rates over time. However, most modern software for phylogenetic analysis is equipped to build chronograms that reflect the course of evolution with respect to real-time scales such as millions of years before the present.