Table 2

Representation of the five classes of viral genes in three selected viruses with small, medium-size and large genomes


Genome size (kb)/number of annotated genes
Representation of the 5 classes of viral genes (number and brief description)





1. Recent acquisitions from cells
2. Ancient acquisitions from cells
3. ORFans
4. Conserved virus-specific genes
5. Hallmark genes

Virus






Poliovirusa
7.4/10
None
2: a duplication of a chymotrypsin-like protease (3C, 2A)
1: uncharacterized protein (3A)
1: genome-linked protein (VPg)
6: 4 diverged copies of JRC (VP1-4), S3H (3C), RdRp (3D)
Sulfolobus turreted icosahedral virus (STIV)b
17.6/36
3: two predicted transcription regulators and an uncharacterized protein
5: four predicted transcription regulators and an uncharacterized protein
26: uncharacterized proteins
None
2: JRC, packaging ATPase
Vaccinia virusc
194.7/~200
~48: primarily, proteins involved in virus-host interaction
~36: primarily, proteins involved in genome replication and expression
~24: poorly characterized proteins, possibly, involved in virus-host interactions
~84: primarily, structural components of the virion and some proteins involved in genome expression
5: JRC, S3H/primase, packaging ATPase, DNA polymerase(?)

aThe classification is based on the analysis described in [87].

bThe classification is based on the analysis described in [11].

cThe classification is based on the analysis described in [108] and EVK, unpublished observations; the uncertainty in the number of genes is due to the pseudogenization of varying subsets of genes in different strains of vaccinia virus.

Koonin et al. Biology Direct 2006 1:29   doi:10.1186/1745-6150-1-29