Nucleotide and dinucleotide preference of segmented viruses are shaped more by segment: In case study of tomato...

Several studies have showed that the nucleotide and dinucleotide composition of viruses possibly follows their host species or protein coding region. Nevertheless, the influence of viral segment on viral nucleotide and dinucleotide composition is still unknown. Here, we explored through tomato spotted wilt virus (TSWV), a segmented virus that seriously threatens the production of tomatoes all over the world. Through nucleotide composition analysis, we found the same over-representation of A across all viral segments at the first and second codon position, but it exhibited distinct in segments at the third codon position. Interestingly, the protein coding regions which encoded by the same or different segments exhibit obvious distinct nucleotide preference. Then, we found that the dinucleotides UpG and CpU were overrepresented and the dinucleotides UpA, CpG and GpU were underrepresented, not only in the complete genomic sequences, but also in different segments, protein coding regions and host species. Notably, 100% of the data investigated here were predicted to the correct viral segment and protein coding region, despite the fact that only 67% of the data analyzed here were predicted to the correct viral host species. In conclusion, in case study of TSWV, nucleotide composition and dinucleotide preference of segment viruses are more strongly dependent on segment and protein coding region than on host species. This research provides a novel perspective on the molecular evolutionary mechanisms of TSWV and provides reference for future research on genetic diversity of segmented viruses.