**2. Genome databases**

Initial effort towards sequencing of viral genomes resulted in accumulation of genomic data in primary repositories such as GenBank [39], European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) [40] and DNA Data Bank of Japan (DDBJ) [41] and now continues to rise in International Nucleotide Sequence Database Collaboration (INSDC) [42]. Genome databases and resources dedicated to viruses were developed subsequently [43–47]. Lists of useful databases, resources and analysis tools have also been compiled previously [13, 48]. Most of these resources archive complete genome sequences, their annotations and derived data such as viral variations, multiple sequence alignments (MSAs) and phylogenetic trees, to name a few. Some of the viral genome resources are briefly described below.
