Detecting remote sequence homology in disordered proteins: discovery of conserved motifs in the N-termini of Mononegavirales phosphoproteins.

ABSTRACT: Paramyxovirinae are a large group of viruses that includes measles virus and parainfluenza viruses. The viral Phosphoprotein (P) plays a central role in viral replication. It is composed of a highly variable, disordered N-terminus and a conserved C-terminus. A second viral protein alternatively expressed, the V protein, also contains the N-terminus of P, fused to a zinc finger. We suspected that, despite their high variability, the N-termini of P/V might all be homologous; however, using standard approaches, we could previously identify sequence conservation only in some Paramyxovirinae. We now compared the N-termini using sensitive sequence similarity search programs, able to detect residual similarities unnoticeable by conventional approaches. We discovered that all Paramyxovirinae share

SUBMITTER: Karlin D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3293882 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature