Virus Multilocus Sequence Analysis(MLSA)

Question

[Salsabil]

Hi everyone. This is my first time working on a Multilocus sequence Analysis for a virus. Usually, this technique is based on housekeeping genes in bacteria. But for viruses, I don't know which genes I should focus on. Can anyone please give me some advice concerning this issue. Many thanks!

[Joe]

You can do whole genome MLST (what you're calling MLSA). You don't have to select just a subset of genes.

Whether you even could would depend how broad a comparison you're trying to draw. If you're comparing a family of viruses for instance, you might be able to focus on things like polymerases, but as the genomes are so streamlined anyway, its unlikely that you'll have many accessory genes anyway.