AlphaFold modeling of nepovirus 3C-like proteinases provides new insights into their diverse substrate specificities.

The majority of picornaviral 3C proteinases (3C) cleavage sites possess glutamine at the P1 position. Plant nepovirus 3C-like proteinases (3CL) show however much broader specificity, cleaving not only after glutamine, but also after several basic and hydrophobic residues. To investigate this difference, we employed AlphaFold to generate structural models of twelve selected 3CL, representing six substrate specificities.

Four principles to establish a universal virus taxonomy.

A universal taxonomy of viruses is essential for a comprehensive view of the virus world and for communicating the complicated evolutionary relationships among viruses. However, there are major differences in the conceptualisation and approaches to virus classification and nomenclature among virologists, clinicians, agronomists, and other interested parties. Here, we provide recommendations to guide the construction of a coherent and comprehensive virus taxonomy, based on expert scientific consensus.