MGF

MGF classifies multigene family (MGF) proteins in African swine fever virus (ASFV) into 35 sequence-homology groups across five families to enable analysis of their genetic, structural, and evolutionary diversity.

Key Features:

• Sequence-homology classification: Classifies MGF proteins into 35 distinct groups using protein sequence homology across the five families MGF-100, MGF-110, MGF-300, MGF-360, and MGF-505 (distribution: 3, 9, 3, 11, and 5 groups respectively).
• Genetic diversity analysis: Provides insights into genetic diversity of MGF proteins and identifies insertions and deletions (indels) as primary contributors to that diversity.
• Structural and functional predictions: Predicts substantial structural and functional diversity among MGF proteins and notes that proteins within the same family tend to share similar structures, locations, and functions.
• Evolutionary insights: Enables evolutionary analysis of MGF groups across ASFV genomes and reports that more than half of the MGF groups are consistently present in all ASFV genomes.

Scientific Applications:

• MGF diversity characterization: Supports characterization of genetic and functional diversity within ASFV multigene families for comparative analyses.
• Evolutionary and control studies: Informs evolutionary studies of ASFV and supports research relevant to vaccine development and disease control strategies.

Methodology:

Classification is performed using protein sequence homology into 35 groups across the five MGF families; genetic diversity is assessed with a focus on indels, and structural and functional diversities are predicted from the sequence analyses explicitly described above.