Alexander V. Sverdlov

TL;DR: A major update of the previously developed system for delineation of Clusters of Orthologous Groups of proteins (COGs) from the sequenced genomes of prokaryotes and unicellular eukaryotes is described and is expected to be a useful platform for functional annotation of newlysequenced genomes, including those of complex eukARYotes, and genome-wide evolutionary studies.

TL;DR: Functional and evolutionary patterns in the recently constructed set of 5,873 clusters of predicted orthologs (eukaryotic orthologous groups or KOGs) from seven eukaryosis genomes are examined, revealing a conserved core of largely essential eukARYotic genes as well as major diversification and innovation associated with evolution of eUKaryotic genomes.

TL;DR: It was shown that introns indeed predominantly insert into or are fixed in specific protosplice sites which have the consensus sequence (A/C)AG|Gt, and are compatible with the hypothesis that the original, catastrophic intron invasion accompanied the emergence of the eukaryotic cells.

TL;DR: It is shown that protosplice sites are no more conserved during evolution of eukaryotic gene sequences than random sites, and the presence of numerous introns in the same positions in orthologous genes from distant eUKaryotes appears to reflect mostly bona fide evolutionary conservation.

TL;DR: In an attempt to gain insight into the dynamics of intron evolution in eukaryotic protein-coding genes, the distributions of old introns, that are conserved between distant phylogenetic lineages, and new, lineage-specific introns along the gene length were examined.