Researchers at CMS College develop model to predict cross-species virus transmission
Researchers at CMS College have created a model called SPHAK to predict virus transmission from animals to humans. This computational framework analyzes viral protein sequences to identify potential cross-species transmission risks. The model has shown over 97% accuracy in identifying viral families and could serve as an early warning system for disease outbreaks.
- ▪The SPHAK model focuses on viral proteins rather than whole-genome analysis.
- ▪It achieved over 97% accuracy in testing on more than 950 animal virus species.
- ▪The model can flag viruses with a higher likelihood of transmission using a spillover prediction score.
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Researchers at CMS College, Kottayam, have developed a computational framework capable of predicting the transmission of viruses from animals to humans.The model, named SPHAK (Sequence-based Prediction of Host spillover by Analysis of k-mers), analyses viral protein sequences to identify signals indicating a virus’s ability to cross species barriers. It examines short amino acid patterns, or k-mers, within viral proteins to detect host-linked signatures and generates a `spillover prediction’ (SP) score. The finding has been published in Nature Scientific Reports.According to the researchers, SPHAK differs from traditional methods that rely on whole-genome analysis by focusing on viral proteins, which function as molecular “keys” interacting with host cell receptors.
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