Search Our Scientific Publications & Authors

Adv Virus Res 2021 2;111:63-110. Epub 2021 Sep 2.

Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, United States; Microbiology Program, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, United States.

Phages are viruses that specifically infect bacteria, and their biodiversity contributes to historical and current development of phage therapy to treat myriad bacterial infections. Phage therapy holds promise as an alternative to failing chemical antibiotics, but there are benefits and costs of this technology. Here, we review the rich history of phage therapy, highlighting reasons (often political) why it was widely rejected by Western medicine until recently. Read More

Adv Virus Res 2021 11;111:31-61. Epub 2021 Aug 11.

Epidemiology of Highly Pathogenic Microorganisms, Robert Koch-Institute, Berlin, Germany.

The evolution of human-virus associations is usually reconstructed from contemporary patterns of genomic diversity. An intriguing, though still rarely implemented, alternative is to search for the genetic material of viruses in archeological and medical archive specimens to document evolution as it happened. In this chapter, we present lessons from ancient DNA research and incorporate insights from virology to explore the potential range of applications and likely limitations of archeovirological approaches. Read More

Adv Virus Res 2021 6;111:111-156. Epub 2021 Aug 6.

Institute of Technology, University of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia. Electronic address:

Alphaviruses are positive-strand RNA viruses, typically transmitted by mosquitoes between vertebrate hosts. They encode four essential replication proteins, the non-structural proteins nsP1-4, which possess the enzymatic activities of RNA capping, RNA helicase, site-specific protease, ADP-ribosyl removal and RNA polymerase. Alphaviruses have been key models in the study of membrane-associated RNA replication, which is a conserved feature among the positive-strand RNA viruses of animals and plants. Read More

Adv Virus Res 2021 23;111:1-29. Epub 2021 Aug 23.

Department of Pediatrics, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States; Center for Host-Pathogen Interaction, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States; Department of Experimental Medicine, University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli", Caserta, Italy; Department of Physiology & Cellular Biophysics, Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University, New York, NY, United States. Electronic address:

Parainfluenza viruses, members of the enveloped, negative-sense, single stranded RNA Paramyxoviridae family, impact global child health as the cause of significant lower respiratory tract infections. Parainfluenza viruses enter cells by fusing directly at the cell surface membrane. How this fusion occurs via the coordinated efforts of the two molecules that comprise the viral surface fusion complex, and how these efforts may be blocked, are the subjects of this chapter. Read More

Adv Virus Res 2021 7;110:59-102. Epub 2021 Apr 7.

Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Greifswald - Insel Riems, Germany.

Within only one year after the first detection of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), nearly 100 million infections were reported in the human population globally, with more than two million fatal cases. While SARS-CoV-2 most likely originated from a natural wildlife reservoir, neither the immediate viral precursor nor the reservoir or intermediate hosts have been identified conclusively. Due to its zoonotic origin, SARS-CoV-2 may also be relevant to animals. Read More

Adv Virus Res 2021 26;110:27-57. Epub 2021 Jun 26.

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Department of Biology, Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics, and Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States. Electronic address:

Herpes simplex viruses (HSV) cause chronic infection in humans that are characterized by periodic episodes of mucosal shedding and ulcerative disease. HSV causes millions of infections world-wide, with lifelong bouts of viral reactivation from latency in neuronal ganglia. Infected individuals experience different levels of disease severity and frequency of reactivation. Read More

Adv Virus Res 2021 8;110:1-26. Epub 2021 Jul 8.

Epidemiology of Highly Pathogenic Microorganisms, Robert Koch-Institute, Berlin, Germany.

Over the last two decades, the viromes of our closest relatives, the African great apes (AGA), have been intensively studied. Comparative approaches have unveiled diverse evolutionary patterns, highlighting both stable host-virus associations over extended evolutionary timescales and much more recent viral emergence events. In this chapter, we summarize these findings and outline how they have shed a new light on the origins and evolution of many human-infecting viruses. Read More

Adv Virus Res 2021 ;109:xi-xiv

Molecular and Clinical Infection Research, Department of Biochemistry & Research Center for Emerging, Infections and Zoonoses (RIZ), University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Hannover, Germany.

Adv Virus Res 2021 16;109:63-104. Epub 2021 Apr 16.

Department of Biochemistry & Research Center for Emerging Infections and Zoonoses (RIZ), University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Hannover, Germany; Institute for Experimental Virology, TWINCORE, Centre for Experimental and Clinical Infection Research, a Joint Venture Between the Medical School Hannover and the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research, Hannover, Germany; Department of Clinical Microbiology, Virology, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden; Wallenberg Centre for Molecular Medicine (WCMM), Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden. Electronic address:

Cellular compartmentalization of proteins and protein complex formation allow cells to tightly control biological processes. Therefore, understanding the subcellular localization and interactions of a specific protein is crucial to uncover its biological function. The advent of proximity labeling (PL) has reshaped cellular proteomics in infection biology. Read More

Adv Virus Res 2021 9;109:31-62. Epub 2020 Nov 9.

Institute of Molecular Virology and Cell Biology, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institut, Greifswald-Insel Riems, Germany. Electronic address:

Mass spectrometry imaging (MSI) is a label-free molecular imaging technique allowing an untargeted detection of a broad range of biomolecules and xenobiotics. MSI enables imaging of the spatial distribution of proteins, peptides, lipids and metabolites from a wide range of samples. To date, this technique is commonly applied to tissue sections in cancer diagnostics and biomarker development, but also molecular histology in general. Read More

Adv Virus Res 2021 9;109:201-254. Epub 2020 Nov 9.

Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States; Department of Pharmacology, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States. Electronic address:

The DNA viruses, Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), are members of the gammaherpesvirus subfamily, a group of viruses whose infection is associated with multiple malignancies, including cancer. The primary host for these viruses is humans and, like all herpesviruses, infection with these pathogens is lifelong. Due to the persistence of gammaherpesvirus infection and the potential for cancer formation in infected individuals, there is a driving need to understand not only the biology of these viruses and how they remain undetected in host cells but also the mechanism(s) by which tumorigenesis occurs. Read More

Adv Virus Res 2021 16;109:163-199. Epub 2021 Apr 16.

Department of Molecular Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, United States. Electronic address:

The vertebrate innate immune system confers host cells with mechanisms to protect against both evolutionarily ancient pathogens and newly emerging pathogenic strains. Innate immunity relies on the host cell's ability to distinguish between self and pathogen-derived molecules. To achieve this, the innate immune system uses germline encoded receptors called pattern recognition receptors (PRRs), which recognize various molecular signatures, including nucleic acids, proteins, lipids, glycans and glycolipids. Read More

Adv Virus Res 2021 20;109:135-161. Epub 2021 Apr 20.

Molecular Virology Laboratory, Department of Medical Microbiology, LUMC Center for Infectious Diseases (LU-CID), Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands. Electronic address:

Proteases precisely and irreversibly catalyze the hydrolysis of peptide bonds, regulating the fate, localization, and activity of many proteins. Consequently, proteolytic activity plays an important role in fundamental cellular processes such as differentiation and migration, immunological and inflammatory reactions, apoptosis and survival. During virus infection, host proteases are involved in several processes, from cell entry to initiation, progression and resolution of inflammation. Read More

Adv Virus Res 2021 12;109:105-134. Epub 2021 Apr 12.

Department of Health Sciences and Technology (D-HEST), ETH Zurich, Institute of Translational Medicine (ITM), Zurich, Switzerland; Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (SIB), Lausanne, Switzerland. Electronic address:

The cellular surfaceome and its residing extracellularly exposed proteins are involved in a multitude of molecular signaling processes across the viral infection cycle. Successful viral propagation, including viral entry, immune evasion, virion release and viral spread rely on dynamic molecular interactions with the surfaceome. Decoding of these viral-host surfaceome interactions using advanced technologies enabled the discovery of fundamental new functional insights into cellular and viral biology. Read More

Adv Virus Res 2021 4;109:1-29. Epub 2021 Jan 4.

Institute of Biochemistry II, Faculty of Medicine, Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany; Frankfurt Cancer Institute, Frankfurt am Main, Germany; Cardio-Pulmonary Institute, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Electronic address:

The host cell proteome undergoes a variety of dynamic changes during viral infection, elicited by the virus itself or host cell defense mechanisms. Studying these changes on a global scale by integrating functional and physical interactions within protein networks during infection is an important tool to understand pathology. Indeed, proteomics studies dissecting protein signaling cascades and interaction networks upon infection showed how global information can significantly improve understanding of disease mechanisms of diverse viral infections. Read More

Adv Virus Res 2020 ;107:xi-xii

Department of Plant Pathology and Environmental Microbiology, Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics, Penn State University, University Park, PA, United States.

Adv Virus Res 2020 21;107:87-131. Epub 2020 May 21.

Summerland Research and Development Centre, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Summerland, BC, Canada. Electronic address:

Plant viruses induce a range of symptoms of varying intensity, ranging from severe systemic necrosis to mild or asymptomatic infection. Several evolutionary constraints drive virus virulence, including the dependence of viruses on host factors to complete their infection cycle, the requirement to counteract or evade plant antiviral defense responses and the mode of virus transmission. Viruses have developed an array of strategies to modulate disease severity. Read More

Adv Virus Res 2020 30;107:383-416. Epub 2020 Jun 30.

College of Veterinary Medicine, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, China. Electronic address:

Since the end of 2019, the global COVID-19 outbreak has once again made coronaviruses a hot topic. Vaccines are hoped to be an effective way to stop the spread of the virus. However, there are no clinically approved vaccines available for coronavirus infections. Read More

Adv Virus Res 2020 25;107:37-86. Epub 2020 May 25.

Department of Plant Life Science, Faculty of Agriculture, Ryukoku University, Otsu, Shiga, Japan.

Plant viruses are important pathogens that cause serious crop losses worldwide. They are obligate intracellular parasites that commandeer a wide array of proteins, as well as metabolic resources, from infected host cells. In the past two decades, our knowledge of plant-virus interactions at the molecular level has exploded, which provides insights into how plant-infecting viruses co-opt host cellular machineries to accomplish their infection. Read More

Adv Virus Res 2020 8;107:315-382. Epub 2020 Jul 8.

Department of Genetics, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States. Electronic address:

Alphaviruses, members of the enveloped, positive-sense, single-stranded RNA Togaviridae family, represent a reemerging public health threat as mosquito vectors expand into new geographic territories. The Old World alphaviruses, which include chikungunya virus, Ross River virus, and Sindbis virus, tend to cause a clinical syndrome characterized by fever, rash, and arthritis, whereas the New World alphaviruses, which consist of Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus, eastern equine encephalitis virus, and western equine encephalitis virus, induce encephalomyelitis. Following recovery from the acute phase of infection, many patients are left with debilitating persistent joint and neurological complications that can last for years. Read More

Adv Virus Res 2020 3;107:285-314. Epub 2020 Jul 3.

Department of Biology, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States.

Organisms clear infections by mounting an immune response that is normally turned off once the pathogens have been cleared. However, sometimes this immune response is not properly or timely arrested, resulting in the host damaging itself. This immune dysregulation may be referred to as immunopathology. Read More

Adv Virus Res 2020 25;107:247-284. Epub 2020 Jun 25.

Department of Immunology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, United States; Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Biochemistry, College of Graduate Health Sciences, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN, United States. Electronic address:

It has been over 100 years since the 1918 influenza pandemic, one of the most infamous examples of viral immunopathology. Since that time, there has been an inevitable repetition of influenza pandemics every few decades and yearly influenza seasons, which have a significant impact on human health. Recently, noteworthy progress has been made in defining the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying pathology induced by an exuberant host response to influenza virus infection. Read More

Adv Virus Res 2020 7;107:223-246. Epub 2020 Jul 7.

Department of Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, Saint Louis, MO, United States; Department of Molecular Microbiology, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, Saint Louis, MO, United States; Department of Pathology and Immunology, Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, Saint Louis, MO, United States. Electronic address:

Zika virus (ZIKV) is a mosquito-borne virus of the flavivirus genus in the Flaviviridae family. Flaviviruses are single-stranded, positive-sense RNA viruses that have been responsible for numerous human epidemics. Notable flaviviruses include mosquito-borne viruses such as yellow fever virus (YFV), Dengue virus (DENV), West Nile virus (WNV), Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), as well as tick-borne viruses including Powassan virus (POWV) and tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV). Read More

Adv Virus Res 2020 30;107:159-222. Epub 2020 Jun 30.

Institute of Veterinary Pathology, Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, Giessen, Germany; Center for Brain, Mind and Behavior, Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, Giessen, Germany. Electronic address:

Knowledge on bornaviruses has expanded tremendously during the last decade through detection of novel bornaviruses and endogenous bornavirus-like elements in many eukaryote genomes, as well as by confirmation of insectivores as reservoir species for classical Borna disease virus 1 (BoDV-1). The most intriguing finding was the demonstration of the zoonotic potential of lethal human bornavirus infections caused by a novel bornavirus of different squirrel species (variegated squirrel 1 bornavirus, VSBV-1) and by BoDV-1 known as the causative agent for the classical Borna disease in horses and sheep. Whereas a T cell-mediated immunopathology has already been confirmed as key disease mechanism for infection with BoDV-1 by experimental studies in rodents, the underlying pathomechanisms remain less clear for human bornavirus infections, infection with other bornaviruses or infection of reservoir species. Read More

Adv Virus Res 2020 7;107:133-158. Epub 2020 Jul 7.

Department of Plant Pathology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, United States. Electronic address:

Positive-strand RNA viruses need to arrogate many cellular resources to support their replication and infection cycles. These viruses co-opt host factors, lipids and subcellular membranes and exploit cellular metabolites to built viral replication organelles in infected cells. However, the host cells have their defensive arsenal of factors to protect themselves from easy exploitation by viruses. Read More

Adv Virus Res 2020 27;107:1-36. Epub 2020 May 27.

Department of Biology, Agricultural and Food Sciences, Institute for Sustainable Plant Protection, CNR, Bari, Italy.. Electronic address:

The phenotypic manifestations of disease induced by viruses and subviral infectious entities are the result of complex molecular interactions between host and viral factors. The viral determinants of the diseased phenotype have traditionally been sought at the level of structural or non-structural proteins. However, the discovery of RNA silencing mechanisms has led to speculations that determinants of the diseased phenotype are caused by viral nucleic acid sequences in addition to proteins. Read More

Adv Virus Res 2020 27;106:85-121. Epub 2020 Jan 27.

Instituto de Biología Integrativa de Sistemas, CSIC-Universitat de València, Valencia, Spain; The Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM, United States. Electronic address:

Phenotypic plasticity enables organisms to survive in the face of unpredictable environmental stress. Intimately related to the notion of phenotypic plasticity is the concept of the reaction norm that places phenotypic plasticity in the context of a genotype-specific response to environmental gradients. Whether reaction norms themselves evolve and which factors might affect their shape has been the object of intense debates among evolutionary biologists along the years. Read More

Adv Virus Res 2020 13;106:39-84. Epub 2020 Feb 13.

Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, United States. Electronic address:

Adeno-associated virus (AAV) is a nonenveloped, ssDNA virus in the parvovirus family, which has become one of the leading candidate vectors for human gene therapy. AAV has been studied extensively to identify host cellular factors involved in infection, as well as to identify capsid variants that confer clinically favorable transduction profiles ex vivo and in vivo. Recent advances in technology have allowed for direct genetic approaches to be used to more comprehensively characterize host factors required for AAV infection and allowed for identification of a critical multi-serotype receptor, adeno-associated virus receptor (AAVR). Read More

Adv Virus Res 2020 13;106:145-169. Epub 2020 Mar 13.

Centro de Edafología y Biología Aplicada del Segura-Consejo Superior de investigaciones Científicas (CEBAS-CSIC), Dpto Biología del Estrés y Patología Vegetal, Murcia, Spain. Electronic address:

Mixed viral infections occur more commonly than would be expected by chance in nature. Virus-virus interactions may affect viral traits and leave a genetic signature in the population, and thus influence the prevalence and emergence of viral diseases. Understanding about how the interactions between viruses within a host shape the evolutionary dynamics of the viral populations is needed for viral disease prevention and management. Read More

Adv Virus Res 2020 5;106:123-144. Epub 2020 Feb 5.

Plant Genomics and Breeding Institute, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea; Department of Agricultural Biotechnology, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea; Research Institute of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Seoul National University, Seoul, Republic of Korea. Electronic address:

In this review, we discuss recent studies of the interaction between Fusarium graminearum viruses (FgVs) and the fungal host, Fusarium graminearum. Comprehensive transcriptome and proteome analyses have shown changes in the expression of host genes in response to infection by diverse FgVs. Using omics data and reverse genetics, researchers have determined the effects of some fungal host proteins (including FgHex1, FgHal2, FgSwi6, and vr1) on virus accumulation, virus transmission, and host symptom development. Read More