A predictor for toxin-like proteins exposes cell modulator candidates within viral genomes.

ABSTRACT:

Motivation

Animal toxins operate by binding to receptors and ion channels. These proteins are short and vary in sequence, structure and function. Sporadic discoveries have also revealed endogenous toxin-like proteins in non-venomous organisms. Viral proteins are the largest group of quickly evolving proteomes. We tested the hypothesis that toxin-like proteins exist in viruses and that they act to modulate functions of their hosts.

Results

We updated and improved a classifier for compact proteins resembling short animal toxins that is based on a machine-learning method. We applied it in a large-scale setting to identify toxin-like proteins among short viral proteins. Among the approximately 26 000 representatives of such short proteins, 510 sequences were positively identifie

SUBMITTER: Naamati G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2935411 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature