Exaptation of Inactivated Host Enzymes for Structural Roles in Orthopoxviruses and Novel Folds of Virus Proteins Revealed by Protein Structure Modeling.

ABSTRACT: Viruses with large, double-stranded DNA genomes captured the majority of their genes from their hosts at different stages of evolution. The origins of many virus genes are readily detected through significant sequence similarity with cellular homologs. In particular, this is the case for virus enzymes, such as DNA and RNA polymerases or nucleotide kinases, that retain their catalytic activity after capture by an ancestral virus. However, a large fraction of virus genes have no readily detectable cellular homologs, meaning that their origins remain enigmatic. We explored the potential origins of such proteins that are encoded in the genomes of orthopoxviruses, a thoroughly studied virus genus that includes major human pathogens. To this end, we used AlphaFold2 to predict the structures of a

SUBMITTER: Mutz P 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10128050 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature