Horizontal gene transfer in herpesviruses identified by using support vector machine

Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is the probable origin of new genes. Identification of HGT-introduced genes would be helpful to the understanding of the genome evolution and the function prediction of new genes. In this study, a method using support vector machine (SVM) was used to distinguish horizontally transferred genes and non-horizontally transferred genes of mammalian herpesviruses based on the atypical composition identification, with accuracy higher than 95% within a reasonable length of time by using just a common PC. This identified 302 putative horizontally transferred genes, 171 genes being identified for the first time. Although most putative transferred genes are of unknown function, many genes have been discovered or predicted to encode glycoproteins or membrane proteins.