Similarity-based codes sequentially assigned to ebolavirus genomes are informative of species membership, associated outbreaks, and transmission chains.

ABSTRACT: Background.  Developing a universal standardized microbial typing and nomenclature system that provides phylogenetic and epidemiological information in real time has never been as urgent in public health as it is today. We previously proposed to use genome similarity as the basis for immediate and precise typing and naming of individual organisms or viruses. In this study, we tested the validity of the proposed system and applied it to the epidemiology of infectious diseases using Ebola virus disease (EVD) outbreaks as the example. Methods.  One hundred twenty-eight publicly available ebolavirus genomes were compared with each other, and average nucleotide identity (ANI) was calculated. The ANI was then used to assign unique codes, hereafter referred to as Life Identification Numbers (LINs

SUBMITTER: Weisberg AJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4438903 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature