Viruses: Molecular Biology, Host Interactions, and Applications to Biotechnology

Viruses: Molecular Biology, Host Interactions, and Applications to Biotechnology provides an up-to-date introduction to human, animal and plant viruses within the context of recent advances in high-throughput sequencing that have demonstrated that viruses are vastly greater and more diverse than previously recognized. It covers discoveries such as the Mimivirus and its virophage which have stimulated new discussions on the definition of viruses, their place in the current view, and their inherent and derived ‘interactomics’ as defined by the molecules and the processes by which virus gene products interact with themselves and their host’s cellular gene products.

Further, the book includes perspectives on basic aspects of virology, including the structure of viruses, the organization of their genomes, and basic strategies in replication and expression, emphasizing the diversity and versatility of viruses, how they cause disease and how their hosts react to such disease, and exploring developments in the field of host-microbe interactions in recent years. The book is likely to appeal, and be useful, to a wide audience that includes students, academics and researchers studying the molecular biology and applications of viruses

Provides key insights into recent technological advances, including high-throughput sequencingPresents viruses not only as formidable foes, but also as entities that can be beneficial to their hosts and humankind that are helping to shape the tree of lifeFeatures exposition on the diversity and versatility of viruses, how they cause disease, and an exploration of virus-host interactions

1. Introduction: A Short History of Virology 2. Virion Structure, Genome Organization and Taxonomy of Viruses 3. Replication and Expression Strategies of Viruses 4. Origins and Evolution of Viruses 5. Host Range, Host-Virus Interactions and Virus Transmission 6. Viruses as Pathogens: Plant Viruses 7. Viruses as Pathogens: Animal Viruses, with Emphasis on Human Viruses 8. Viruses as Pathogens: Animal Viruses Affecting Wild and Domesticated Species 9. Viruses of Prokaryotes, Protozoa, Fungi and Chromista 10. Host-Virus Interactions: Battles Between Viruses and Their Hosts 11. Beneficial Interactions with Viruses 12. Viruses as Tools of Biotechnology: Therapeutic Agents, Carriers of Therapeutic Agents and Genes, Nanomaterials, and More 13. Viruses as Targets for Biotechnology: Diagnosis and Detection, Transgenesis and Rnai- and CRISPR/Cas Engineered Resistance 14. Concluding Thoughts: It’s A Viral World