AUTHOR=Charon Justine , Olendraite Ingrida , Forgia Marco , Chong Li Chuin , Hillary Luke S. , Roux Simon , Kupczok Anne , Debat Humberto , Sakaguchi Shoichi , Tahzima Rachid , Nakagawa So , Babaian Artem , Abroi Aare , Bejerman Nicolas , Ben Mansour Karima , Brown Katherine , Butkovic Anamarija , Cervera Amelia , Charriat Florian , Chen Guowei , Chiba Yuto , De Coninck Lander , Demina Tatiana , Dominguez-Huerta Guillermo , Dubrulle Jeremy , Gutierrez Serafin , Harvey Erin , Jayaraj Mallika Fhilmar Raj , Karapliafis Dimitris , Lim Shen Jean , Kasibhatla Sunitha Manjari , Mifsud Jonathon C. O. , Nishimura Yosuke , Ortiz-Baez Ayda Susana , Raco Milica , Rivero Ricardo , Sadiq Sabrina , Saghaei Shahram , San James Emmanuel , Shaikh Hisham Mohammed , Sieradzki Ella Tali , Sullivan Matthew B. , Sun Yanni , Wille Michelle , Wolf Yuri I. , Zrelovs Nikita , Neri Uri TITLE=Consensus statement from the first RdRp Summit: advancing RNA virus discovery at scale across communities JOURNAL=Frontiers in Virology VOLUME=4 YEAR=2024 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/virology/articles/10.3389/fviro.2024.1371958 DOI=10.3389/fviro.2024.1371958 ISSN=2673-818X ABSTRACT=

Improved RNA virus understanding is critical to studying animal and plant health, and environmental processes. However, the continuous and rapid RNA virus evolution makes their identification and characterization challenging. While recent sequence-based advances have led to extensive RNA virus discovery, there is growing variation in how RNA viruses are identified, analyzed, characterized, and reported. To this end, an RdRp Summit was organized and a hybrid meeting took place in Valencia, Spain in May 2023 to convene leading experts with emphasis on early career researchers (ECRs) across diverse scientific communities. Here we synthesize key insights and recommendations and offer these as a first effort to establish a consensus framework for advancing RNA virus discovery. First, we need interoperability through standardized methodologies, data-sharing protocols, metadata provision and interdisciplinary collaborations and offer specific examples as starting points. Second, as an emergent field, we recognize the need to incorporate cutting-edge technologies and knowledge early and often to improve omic-based viral detection and annotation as novel capabilities reveal new biology. Third, we underscore the significance of ECRs in fostering international partnerships to promote inclusivity and equity in virus discovery efforts. The proposed consensus framework serves as a roadmap for the scientific community to collectively contribute to the tremendous challenge of unveiling the RNA virosphere.