DVSP: An integrated database of virus spike proteins

Spike protein is a class I virus fusion glycoprotein that plays an important role in cell infection by mediating receptor binding and membrane fusion during virus invasion. The fusion mechanism between virus and host cell mediated by spike protein is complex, and alterations via mutation can affect viral pathogenicity and have been linked with virus pandemics. In-depth studies of the biology and toxicology of viruses that pose a potential public health threat have promoted the use of bioinformatic approaches to explore the structure, function, and evolution of spike proteins. Therefore, data related to spike proteins have increased exponentially. To facilitate further biomedical research, these data require integration. Here, we developed a database of virus spike proteins (DVSP), which provides a free data and bioinformatics service for the scientific community. The DVSP contains 35,579 spike protein and 35,175 nucleotide sequences collected from viruses. Among these, 16,027 spike proteins and 15,623 pre-translational nucleotide sequences are derived from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the causative agent of the ongoing corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Overall, the DVSP provides 19,552 virus classifications based on integration and virus taxonomy, annotation information from the GenBank database, and sequence information. The sequences, virus taxonomy, and host information contained in the DVSP provide an important resource for future pathogenicity, evolutionary, and drug development studies. It serves as a valuable and comprehensive knowledge source for exploring the distribution, structure, and phylogeny of spike proteins in viruses, thereby promoting the formulation of new hypotheses and experimental designs for spike protein studies. The DVSP is a centralized reference and resource for biological information about the spike proteins of viruses (including coronavirus), which is available at http://yeyn.group:90/.