UK researchers have launched a new platform described as ‘the most comprehensive human virus protein database’ in the world, it has been revealed. 

Viro3D, which was developed by researchers at the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, uses AI to offer new perspectives on viruses, allowing scientists to learn about their origins and evolution faster and in more depth. 

Viro3D contains high-quality structural models for 85,000 proteins from 4,400 human and animal viruses, making it the largest database of complete structural models for human and animal viruses, expanding current knowledge in this area by 30 times. 

Dr Joe Grove, Lead Author from the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, said: “Viro3D provides a completely new perspective on viruses, allowing us to learn about their origins and evolution. We expect Viro3D, and artificial intelligence, to accelerate the computational design of antiviral drugs and vaccines against existing endemic viruses. We can then bring these designs back into laboratories and then to the real world.” 

‘New era’ for virus research 

Although virus particles are the most abundant biological entities on the planet, these tiny structures remain among the least well-understood. Insights into the key protein structures within viruses have, until now, only been achieved through slow and laborious research work, a pace that has impacted the ability to develop treatments and vaccines at speed. 

The creators of Viro3D expect the database will begin a new era for human and animal virus research, accelerating the development of antiviral drugs and vaccines against existing endemic viruses, such as hepatitis, HIV, the common cold and Covid-19, as well as for new and emerging pandemic threats. 

 The database, recently detailed in the journal Molecular Systems Biology, has already revealed some previously unknown information on the genetic ancestry of SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for Covid-19. Data from Viro3D suggests that a key protein in SARS-CoV-2, one of the ones responsible for infection, may have originally come from a genetic exchange with an ancestral herpesvirus, the family of viruses responsible for a range of illnesses including cold sores and chickenpox. 

The research team say Viro3D has the potential to generate much more information like this – on the evolutionary history and origins of viruses – for thousands of different proteins, helping to turbocharge our understanding of human and animal viruses, and in turn our ability to combat them at pace. 

Bruno Quinney, Content Team, DDW