The Case for Studying New Viruses of New Hosts

Virology has largely focused on viruses that are pathogenic to humans or to the other species that we care most about. There is no doubt that this has been a worthwhile investment. But many transformative advances have been made through the in-depth study of relatively obscure viruses that do not appear on lists of prioritized pathogens. In this review, I highlight the benefits that can accrue from the study of viruses and hosts off the beaten track. I take stock of viral sequence diversity across host taxa as an estimate of the bias that exists in our understanding of host-virus interactions. I describe the gains that have been made through the metagenomic discovery of thousands of new viruses in previously unsampled hosts as well as the limitations of metagenomic surveys. I conclude by suggesting that the study of viruses that naturally infect existing and emerging model organisms represents an opportunity to push virology forward in useful and hard to predict ways.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2022

Erschienen:

2022

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:9

Enthalten in:

Annual review of virology - 9(2022), 1 vom: 29. Sept., Seite 157-172

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Stenglein, Mark D [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

Basic research
Journal Article
Metagenomics
Model organisms
Pandemic preparedness
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
Review
Virology
Viruses

Anmerkungen:

Date Completed 03.10.2022

Date Revised 18.11.2022

published: Print-Electronic

Citation Status MEDLINE

doi:

10.1146/annurev-virology-100220-112915

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM341933732