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Use of an Integrated Approach Involving AlphaFold Predictions for the Evolutionary Taxonomy of Duplodnaviria Viruses
One of the challenging tasks of Duplodnaviria taxonomy is the classification of high-ranked taxa, including families and orders. In this study, the team of scientists from the Laboratory of molecular bioengineering IBCh RAS in collaboration with the colleagues from the Limnological Institute analized the evolutionary relationships of conserved viral proteins, representing different viruses, including all classified Duplodnaviria families, using AlphaFold modelling.
This analysis has been undertaken using structural comparisons and different phylogenetic methods. The results of the analyses mainly indicated the high quality of AlphaFold modelling and the possibility of using the AlphaFold predictions, together with other methods, for the reconstruction of the evolutionary relationships between distant viral groups.
The results are publushed in the Biomolecules journal.
Figure 1. Matrix based on the pairwise Z-score comparisons of 57 major capsid proteins and encapsulin AF models, using DALI.
january 18, 2023