Comprehensive Annotation of Mature Peptides and Genotypes for Zika Virus

The rapid spread of Zika virus (ZIKV) in South and Central Americas has caused much concern in the global health community due in part to the previously unreported link to microcephaly and other neurological illnesses. An increasing amount of genomic sequence data of ZIKV has been reported recently, but the understanding of the virus is still lacking.

To support research on the functional characterization of ZIKV, we have developed a new set of bioinformatics sequence analysis tools for the full and rapid annotation of all available ZIKV genome sequence data. This includes the identification of polyprotein maturation cleavage sites and mature peptide nucleotide sequences, the standardization of mature peptide names, the determination of strain genotypes, and the detection of possible recombination events.

These comprehensive datasets are made freely available for download and use within the ViPR framework at www.viprbrc.org. We expect that the rapid and open exchange of ZIKV proteome and genotype information will help facilitate and accelerate clinical reagent development.

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