SCANellome V2: Update of the Primate Anellovirus Reference Sequences Database

Abstract

Anelloviruses are ubiquitous in humans and represent a major component of the human virome. Its best-known representative is Torque teno virus (i.e., the Alphatorquevirus genus), which is considered a potential immunity biomarker. Recent metagenomic investigations revealed not only the extraordinary genomic diversity of anellovirus sequences, but also that co-detection of genera, genotypes, or species seems to be the rule in humans. SCANellome was developed to represent a user-friendly tool to analyze the primate (both human and non-human) anellovirus composition at the genus, species, and genotype level from metagenomics data based on an up-to-date database. This SCANellome update includes >900 additional reference sequences from GenBank. Using a clustering at 90% identity, the FASTA database was updated and generated 134 new representative sequences. Based on ORF1, the analysis of these new sequences indicates the presence of 206 potential new species, including four nonhuman primates, and adds four new non-human primate species which will be the subject of a proposal to the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV). In addition, SCANellome V2 provides now the user with an interactive up-to-date phylogenetic analysis (of ORF1) to show the distribution among the 12 human and nonhuman primate genera of these new potential species. Finally, the Anelloviridae taxonomy was updated to rename species names in binomial format as required by the ICTV.