Genetic insight of the H5N1 hemagglutinin cleavage site.

The cleavability of the hemagglutinin (HA) plays a major role in virulence of avian influenza viruses. Detailed analyses of the cleavage sequences and their evolution would give insights into the high pathogenicity of the H5N1 virus. HA segments were visually identifiable in the cellular automata (CA) image, and a feature gene segment (FGS) was only found in H5N1 rather than any other subtype.

A new nucleotide-composition based fingerprint of SARS-CoV with visualization analysis.

It has been observed by conducting an extensive analysis of the two-dimensional cellular automata images of known SARS-CoV genome sequences that the V-shaped cross-lines only exist in some special locations, and hence can be used as a fingerprint to identify the SARS sequences. Such a discovery can be used to rapidly and reliably diagnose SARS coronavirus for both basic research in laboratories and practical application in clinics.