Desk Encyclopedia of General Virology

This volume, derived from Encyclopedia of Virology, provides an overview of the development of virology during the last ten years.  Entries detail the nature, origin, phylogeny and evolution of viruses. It then moves into a summary of our understanding of the structure and assembly of virus particles and describes how this knowledge was obtained. Genetic material of viruses and the different mechanisms used by viruses to infect and replicate in their host cells are highlighted. The volume is rounded out with an overview of some major groups of viruses with particular attention being given to our current knowledge of their molecular biology.

The most comprehensive single-volume source providing an overview of virology to non-specialistsBridges the gap between basic undergraduate texts and specialized reviewsConcise and general overviews of important topics within the field will help when preparing for lectures, writing reports, or drafting grant applications

Section 1. GENERAL TOPICS History of virology : bacteriophages History of virology :  plant viruses History of virology : vertebrate viruses Nature of viruses Origin of viruses Ribozymes Virus species Quasispecies Virus databases Phylogeny of viruses Evolution of viruses Taxonomy, classification and nomenclature of viruses Virus classification by pairwise sequence comparison Prions of vertebrates Viruses and bioterrorism

Section 2. VIRIONS   Principles of virion structure Structure of non-enveloped virions Electron microscopy of viruses Cryo-electron microcopy Assembly of non-enveloped virions Assembly of enveloped virions Assembly of bacterial viruses Genome packaging of bacterial viruses Viral membranes Mimivirus

Section 3. NUCLEIC ACIDS  Recombination Satellite nucleic acids and viruses Retrotransposons of vertebrates Defective interfering viruses Interfering RNAs Viruses as vectors in gene therapy 

Section 4. VIRUS INFECTION  Viral receptors  Virus entry to bacterial cells Membrane  fusion Replication of viruses Persistent and latent viral infection Apoptosis and virus infection Viral pathogenesis Antiviral agents Diagnosis using serological and molecular approaches Diagnosis using microarrays Disease surveillance

Section 5. IMMUNE RESPONSES Innate immunity Defeating innate immunity Antigen presentation Antigenicity and immunogenicity  of viral proteins Cytokines and chemokines Cell-mediated immunity to viruses Antibody - mediated immunity to viruses Orthomyxovirus antigen structure Antigenic variation Vaccine strategies DNA Vaccines Vaccine safety Neutralization of infectivity Immunopathology

Section 6. DESCRIPTION AND MOLECULAR BIOLOGY OF SOME VIRUSES Adenoviruses : molecular biology Baculoviruses : molecular biology of granuloviruses Baculoviruses : molecular biology of nucleopolyhedroviruses Coronaviruses : molecular biology Hepatitis virus B : molecular biology Herpes simplex viruses : molecular biology Human cytomegalovirus : molecular biology Human immunodeficiency viruses : molecular biology Iridoviruses Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus : molecular biology Mononegavirales Nidovirales Nodaviruses Orthomyxoviruses : molecular biology Papillomaviruses  : molecular biology Partitiviruses Phycodnaviruses Picornaviruses Reoviruses  : molecular biology Seadornaviruses Tetraviruses Togaviruses : molecular biology