The rapidly growing database of completely sequenced genomes of bacteria, archaea, eukaryotes and viruses (several thousand genomes already available and many more in progress) creates both new opportunities and new challenges for genome research. Over the last year, we performed several studies that took advantage of the genomic information to establish fundamental principles of genome evolution and function. In particular, we investigated the evolution of the numerous long intergenic non-coding RNAs (lincRNAs) encoded in mammalian genomes and developed a statistical model to estimate the size of the mammalian lincRNome. The sets of experimentally validated lincRNAs from human and mouse were compared to one another, a maximum likelihood approach to estimate the total number of lincRNA genes as well as the size of the conserved part of the lincRNome. Under the assumption that the sets of experimentally validated lincRNAs are random samples of the lincRNomes of the corresponding species, we estimate the total lincRNome size at approximately 40,000 to 50,000 species, at least twice the number of protein-coding genes. We further estimate that the fraction of the human and mouse euchromatic genomes encoding lincRNAs is more than twofold greater than the fraction of protein-coding sequences. Although the sequences of most lincRNAs are much less strongly conserved than protein sequences, the extent of orthology between the lincRNomes is unexpectedly high, with 60 to 70% of the lincRNA genes shared between human and mouse. The orthologous mammalian lincRNAs can be predicted to perform equivalent functions;accordingly, it appears likely that thousands of evolutionarily conserved functional roles of lincRNAs remain to be characterized. A separate project aimed at the elucidation of the factors that determine the universal distribution of the gene frequencies in the genomes of prokaryotes. Evolution of prokaryotes involves extensive loss and gain of genes, which lead to substantial differences in the gene repertoires even among closely related organisms. Through a wide range of phylogenetic depths, gene frequency distributions in prokaryotic pangenomes bear a characteristic, asymmetrical U-shape, with a core of (nearly) universal genes, a """"""""shell"""""""" of moderately common genes, and a """"""""cloud"""""""" of rare genes. We employ mathematical modeling to investigate evolutionary processes that might underlie this universal pattern. Gene frequency distributions for almost 400 groups of 10 bacterial or archaeal species each over a broad range of evolutionary distances were fit to steady-state, infinite allele models based on the distribution of gene replacement rates and the phylogenetic tree relating the species in each group. The fits of the theoretical frequency distributions to the empirical ones yield model parameters and estimates of the goodness of fit. Using the Akaike Information Criterion, we show that the neutral model of genome evolution, with the same replacement rate for all genes, can be confidently rejected. Of the three tested models with purifying selection, the one in which the distribution of replacement rates is derived from a stochastic population model with additive per-gene fitness yields the best fits to the data. The selection strength estimated from the fits declines with evolutionary divergence while staying well outside the neutral regime. These findings indicate that, unlike some other universal distributions of genomic variables, for example, the distribution of paralogous gene family membership, the gene frequency distribution is substantially affected by selection. We further investigated the evolutionary stability of the relative rates of gene evolution. The shape of the distribution of evolutionary distances between orthologous genes in pairs of closely related genomes is universal throughout the entire range of cellular life forms. The near invariance of this distribution across billions of years of evolution can be accounted for by the Universal Pace Maker (UPM) model of genome evolution that yields a significantly better fit to the phylogenetic data than the Molecular Clock (MC) model. Unlike the MC, the UPM model does not assume constant gene-specific evolutionary rates but rather postulates that, in each evolving lineage, the evolutionary rates of all genes change (approximately) in unison although the pacemakers of different lineages are not necessarily synchronized. In this study, we dissected the nearly constant evolutionary rate distribution by comparing the genome-wide relative rates of evolution of individual genes in pairs or triplets of closely related genomes from diverse bacterial and archaeal taxa. We show that, although the gene-specific relative rate is an important feature of genome evolution that explains more than half of the variance of the evolutionary distances, the ranges of relative rate variability are extremely broad even for universal genes. Because of this high variance, the gene-specific rate is a poor predictor of the conservation rank for any gene in any particular lineage. Recent advances of genomics and metagenomics reveal remarkable diversity of viruses and other selfish genetic elements. In particular, giant viruses have been shown to possess their own mobilomes that include virophages, small viruses that parasitize on giant viruses of the Mimiviridae family, and transpovirons, distinct linear plasmids. One of the virophages known as the Mavirus, a parasite of the giant Cafeteria roenbergensis virus, shares several genes with large eukaryotic self-replicating transposon of the Polinton (Maverick) family, and it has been proposed that the polintons evolved from a Mavirus-like ancestor. We performed a comprehensive phylogenomic analysis of the available genomes of virophages and traced the evolutionary connections between the virophages and other selfish genetic elements. The comparison of the gene composition and genome organization of the virophages reveals 6 conserved, core genes that are organized in partially conserved arrays. Phylogenetic analysis of those core virophage genes, for which a sufficient diversity of homologs outside the virophages was detected, including the maturation protease and the packaging ATPase, supports the monophyly of the virophages. The results of this analysis appear incompatible with the origin of polintons from a Mavirus-like agent but rather suggest that Mavirus evolved through recombination between a polinton and an unknown virus. Altogether, virophages, polintons, a distinct Tetrahymena transposable element Tlr1, transpovirons, adenoviruses, and some bacteriophages form a network of evolutionary relationships that is held together by overlapping sets of shared genes and appears to represent a distinct module in the vast total network of viruses and mobile elements. The results of the phylogenomic analysis of the virophages and related genetic elements are compatible with the concept of network-like evolution of the virus world and emphasize multiple evolutionary connections between bona fide viruses and other classes of capsid-less mobile elements.
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