Evidence that the amino acid composition of the particle proteins of plant viruses is characteristic of the virus group. I. Multidimensional classification of plant viruses.

The amino acid (AA) contents of the coat proteins of 134 plant viruses and strains were classified by principal components analysis. The virus groupings that were obtained correlated well with the classification of Matthews. The relationships of each virus were dependent on the number of AA residues (axis 1) and on the percentage composition of each AA in the proteins (axes 2-4). The classification indicated which data were anomalous and needed confirmation. There seemed to be more anomalies in estimates of protein size than of protein composition.