V- and VL-scores unveil viral signatures and origins of protein families

-scores to public protein databases, we link 19 - 59% of protein families with viruses representing a 5 - 8x increase over current estimates. These metrics outperform existing approaches, enabling high efficiency in detection of viral genomes, prophages, and host-derived auxiliary viral genes (AVGs) from fragmented sequences. Remarkably, we identify up to 17 times more AVGs dominated by non-metabolic proteins of unknown function. This innovation unlocks new insights into virus signatures and host interactions, with wide-ranging implications from genomics to biotechnology.