title: A comprehensive evolutionary classification of proteins encoded in complete eukaryotic genomes.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Sequencing the genomes of multiple, taxonomically diverse eukaryotes enables in-depth comparative-genomic analysis which is expected to help in reconstructing ancestral eukaryotic genomes and major events in eukaryotic evolution and in making functional predictions for currently uncharacterized conserved genes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We examined functional and evolutionary patterns in the recently constructed set of 5,873 clusters of predicted orthologs (eukaryotic orthologous groups or KOGs) from seven eukaryotic genomes: Caenorhabditis elegans, Drosophila melanogaster, Homo sapiens, Arabidopsis thaliana, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Schizosaccharomyces pombe and Encephalitozoon cuniculi. Conservation of KOGs through the phyletic range of eukaryotes strongly correlates with their functions and with the effect of gene knockout on the organism's viability. The approximately 40% of KOGs that are represented in six or seven species are enriched in proteins responsible for housekeeping functions, particularly translation and RNA processing. These conserved KOGs are often essential for survival and might approximate the minimal set of essential eukaryotic genes. The 131 single-member, pan-eukaryotic KOGs we identified were examined in detail. For around 20 that remained uncharacterized, functions were predicted by in-depth sequence analysis and examination of genomic context. Nearly all these proteins are subunits of known or predicted multiprotein complexes, in agreement with the balance hypothesis of evolution of gene copy number. Other KOGs show a variety of phyletic patterns, which points to major contributions of lineage-specific gene loss and the 'invention' of genes new to eukaryotic evolution. Examination of the sets of KOGs lost in individual lineages reveals co-elimination of functionally connected genes. Parsimonious scenarios of eukaryotic genome evolution and gene sets for ancestral eukaryotic forms were reconstructed. The gene set of the last common ancestor of the crown group consists of 3,413 KOGs and largely includes proteins involved in genome replication and expression, and central metabolism. Only 44% of the KOGs, mostly from the reconstructed gene set of the last common ancestor of the crown group, have detectable homologs in prokaryotes; the remainder apparently evolved via duplication with divergence and invention of new genes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The KOG analysis reveals a conserved core of largely essential eukaryotic genes as well as major diversification and innovation associated with evolution of eukaryotic genomes. The results provide quantitative support for major trends of eukaryotic evolution noticed previously at the qualitative level and a basis for detailed reconstruction of evolution of eukaryotic genomes and biology of ancestral forms.
authors.affiliation: National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20894, USA. koonin@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
authors.forename: Eugene V
authors.initials: EV
authors.lastname: Koonin
authors.forename: Natalie D
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Fedorova
authors.forename: John D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Jackson
authors.forename: Aviva R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Jacobs
authors.forename: Dmitri M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Krylov
authors.forename: Kira S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Makarova
authors.forename: Raja
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Mazumder
authors.forename: Sergei L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Mekhedov
authors.forename: Anastasia N
authors.initials: AN
authors.lastname: Nikolskaya
authors.forename: B Sridhar
authors.initials: BS
authors.lastname: Rao
authors.forename: Igor B
authors.initials: IB
authors.lastname: Rogozin
authors.forename: Sergei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Smirnov
authors.forename: Alexander V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Sorokin
authors.forename: Alexander V
authors.initials: AV
authors.lastname: Sverdlov
authors.forename: Sona
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vasudevan
authors.forename: Yuri I
authors.initials: YI
authors.lastname: Wolf
authors.forename: Jodie J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.forename: Darren A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Natale
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000235:genetics; D005057:Eukaryotic Cells / Q000145:classification*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D017353:Gene Deletion; D016678:Genome; D006801:Humans; D010802:Phylogeny; D011387:Prokaryotic Cells / Q000145:classification; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D011506:Proteins / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D020539:Sequence Analysis, Protein; D015003:Yeasts / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D011506:Proteins