VIGOR extended to annotate genomes for additional 12 different viruses

Wang, Shiliang; Sundaram, Jaideep P.; Stockwell, Timothy B.

VIGOR was initially developed to annotate genomes of five different viruses (3) . Here, we demonstrate that VIGOR has been extended to accurately predict protein coding genes and identify the complex gene features for additional 12 different viruses. If reference protein sequences of a new virus are available and the genome structure and complex gene features of the new virus are well understood, virus species-specific modules can be developed to identify the complex gene features (if they exist) in the virus genomes. With the drop of sequencing cost and the increase of sequencing productivity, tremendous number of different virus species from both clinical and environmental samples will be sequenced. The accuracy and efficiency of gene prediction will be critical to interpret newly sequenced viral genomes and to understand these viruses. VIGOR can be extended to annotate the genomes of new viruses by incorporating new reference sequences into the protein database and developing the virus species-specific modules.