Viruses can infect all types of life forms, ranging from humans to bacteria. High-content data generated with omics technologies can be used to identify emergent properties of these systems, from a holistic point of view, providing targets for further reductionist investigations. Since the completion of the first genome sequencing projects, omics technologies have been used to investigate the dynamics and complexity of host-virus interactions. Starting with early microarray studies aiming to cover a fraction of the host genome, and progressively moving into deep-sequencing projects, these studies shed light on the modulation of host gene expression profile upon infection, such as those found during HIV infection of CD4+ T cells. These investigations were soon followed by proteomic studies, allowing direct protein quantification that partially validated previous transcriptomic findings and highlighted the complexity of the regulation of protein translation.
Omics have also been used to investigate how viruses recruit the host machinery for their replication. In that regard, virus-host interactome studies have been used for several host-virus combinations. Recently, studies with arbovirus using both vertebrate and insect host cells provided interesting insights on how a given virus lineage can use different mechanisms to infect hosts that have diverged millions of years ago. At the same time, host genomics has progressively identified the widespread presence of endogenous retroviruses. In that sense, a recent gain of interest in virome studies reveals the complexity of host-virus interactions and provides a new perspective on the role of viruses in the regulation of host immunity and homeostasis.
Further implementation of metabolomics and refinement of modelling algorithms are allowing a deeper integration by system biology. Network analysis has been used to identify promising targets for therapeutic interventions and drug repurposing and is now playing a role in vaccine development studies. At the same time, reduced sequencing costs and evolving hardware capabilities are now allowing the undertaking of massive projects. Combined with phylogenomic and epigenomic studies, we expect that these investigations will help explain how differences of susceptibility at the individual level are under the influence of genetic variability, life-history traits, and evolutionary trends.
This Research Topic seeks manuscripts that use omics approaches to investigate host-virus interactions. Of particular interest are studies that make use of modern omics technology, including the integration of mass spectrometry, deep sequencing and single-cell analysis, and multi-omics approaches.
We welcome Original Research, Reviews, Brief Research Reports, and Mini-Reviews that cover but are not limited to the utilization of omics in the following topics:
• The study of gene expression and protein profile;
• Time-course studies of virus-host interaction;
• Investigation of host-virus interaction at the subcellular level;
• Host-virus interactome;
• Development of viruses pathogenesis, host immunity, and virus evasion;
• Evolutionary biology of host-virus interaction and co-evolution;
• Single-cell or individual-level omics;
• Multi-omics and network analysis.
Viruses can infect all types of life forms, ranging from humans to bacteria. High-content data generated with omics technologies can be used to identify emergent properties of these systems, from a holistic point of view, providing targets for further reductionist investigations. Since the completion of the first genome sequencing projects, omics technologies have been used to investigate the dynamics and complexity of host-virus interactions. Starting with early microarray studies aiming to cover a fraction of the host genome, and progressively moving into deep-sequencing projects, these studies shed light on the modulation of host gene expression profile upon infection, such as those found during HIV infection of CD4+ T cells. These investigations were soon followed by proteomic studies, allowing direct protein quantification that partially validated previous transcriptomic findings and highlighted the complexity of the regulation of protein translation.
Omics have also been used to investigate how viruses recruit the host machinery for their replication. In that regard, virus-host interactome studies have been used for several host-virus combinations. Recently, studies with arbovirus using both vertebrate and insect host cells provided interesting insights on how a given virus lineage can use different mechanisms to infect hosts that have diverged millions of years ago. At the same time, host genomics has progressively identified the widespread presence of endogenous retroviruses. In that sense, a recent gain of interest in virome studies reveals the complexity of host-virus interactions and provides a new perspective on the role of viruses in the regulation of host immunity and homeostasis.
Further implementation of metabolomics and refinement of modelling algorithms are allowing a deeper integration by system biology. Network analysis has been used to identify promising targets for therapeutic interventions and drug repurposing and is now playing a role in vaccine development studies. At the same time, reduced sequencing costs and evolving hardware capabilities are now allowing the undertaking of massive projects. Combined with phylogenomic and epigenomic studies, we expect that these investigations will help explain how differences of susceptibility at the individual level are under the influence of genetic variability, life-history traits, and evolutionary trends.
This Research Topic seeks manuscripts that use omics approaches to investigate host-virus interactions. Of particular interest are studies that make use of modern omics technology, including the integration of mass spectrometry, deep sequencing and single-cell analysis, and multi-omics approaches.
We welcome Original Research, Reviews, Brief Research Reports, and Mini-Reviews that cover but are not limited to the utilization of omics in the following topics:
• The study of gene expression and protein profile;
• Time-course studies of virus-host interaction;
• Investigation of host-virus interaction at the subcellular level;
• Host-virus interactome;
• Development of viruses pathogenesis, host immunity, and virus evasion;
• Evolutionary biology of host-virus interaction and co-evolution;
• Single-cell or individual-level omics;
• Multi-omics and network analysis.
