Highly Mutable Animal Rna Viruses Adaptation And Evolution

Viruses are widely present in nature, and numerous viral species with a variety of unique characteristics have been identified so far. Even now, new emerging or re-emerging viruses are being found or re-found as novel viral classes or as quasi-species. Indeed, viruses are everywhere. Of note, viruses are pivotal as targets and tools of basic and applied sciences. On one hand, portions of the viruses are infectious for animals including humans, and cause various diseases in infected hosts by distinct mechanisms and at a different level of severity. While many of viruses are known to co-exist quietly with their hosts, pathogenic viruses certainly affect and threaten our society as well as individuals to provoke serious medical or economic attention. We should act against certain dreadful and highly infectious viruses as a global problem. Animal RNA viruses can readily mutate to adapt themselves in their hostile environments for their survival. Resultant viruses may sometimes show essentially altered phenotypes from the original parental strains. This fundamental and general property of animal RNA viruses represents major extensive issues of scientific, medical, and/or economic importance. In this Research Topic, we have focused on the high mutability of animal RNA viruses, and selected relevant articles on animal viruses of broad-ranges such as primate lentiviruses, influenza viruses, paramyxoviruses, flaviviruses, rabies virus, norovirus, picornaviruses, and picobirnavirus. Each article has taken up intriguing aspects of the subject viruses. We are sure that readers acquire important information on virus mutation, adaptation, diversification, and evolution, and hope that researchers in the field related to virology gain some solid hints from the reported articles for further virological and /or medical studies. Finally, we thank all the contributing researchers in this Research Topic, entitled “Highly Mutable Animal RNA Viruses: Adaptation and Evolution”, for their elegant and interesting works.

This book unifies general concepts of plant and animal virus evolution and covers a broad range of topics related to theoretical and experimental aspects of virus population dynamics and viral fitness. Timely topics such as viral mechanisms to cope with antiviral agents, the adaptability of the virus to new hosts, emergence of new viral phenotypes, and the connections between short- and long-term virus evolution are included. By comparing plant and animal viruses, universal mechanisms responsible for fitness variations, viral emergence and disease mechanisms are explored. Although emphasis is put on specific plant and human viral pathogens, relevant similarities and differences to other viruses are highlighted. Additionally, readers will learn more about the adaptability of coronaviruses, including the recently emerged SARS-CoV-2, the causative agent of the COVID-19 pandemic. The book is aimed at students and scientists interested in basic and applied aspects of plant and animal virus population dynamics and evolution.

While the study of viral evolution has developed rapidly in the last 30 years, little attention has been directed toward linking the mechanisms of viral evolution to the epidemiological outcomes of these processes. This book intends to fill this gap by considering the patterns and processes of viral evolution at all its spatial and temporal scales.

Virus as Composition, Complexity, Quasispecies, Dynamics, and Biological Implications, Second Edition, explains the fundamental concepts surrounding viruses as complex populations during replication in infected hosts. Fundamental phenomena in virus behavior, such as adaptation to changing environments, capacity to produce disease, and the probability to be transmitted or respond to treatment all depend on virus population numbers. Concepts such as quasispecies dynamics, mutations rates, viral fitness, the effect of bottleneck events, population numbers in virus transmission and disease emergence, and new antiviral strategies are included. The book's main concepts are framed by recent observations on general virus diversity derived from metagenomic studies and current views on the origin and role of viruses in the evolution of the biosphere. Features current views on key steps in the origin of life and origins of viruses Includes examples relating ancestral features of viruses with their current adaptive capacity Explains complex phenomena in an organized and coherent fashion that is easy to comprehend and enjoyable to read Considers quasispecies as a framework to understand virus adaptability and disease processes

This book, which is the first volume of the book series-Livestock Diseases and Management, summarizes the prominence and implications of the emerging and transboundary animal viruses. Although the livestock plays an important role in the economy of many countries, the emerging and transboundary animal viral diseases possess a serious risk to the animal-agriculture sector and food security globally. The book describes the precise and up-to-date information on animal viral diseases which have emerged in the recent past or are re-emerging due to various environmental factors and those which are not bounded in restricted national boundaries and attained the transboundary status. The chapters summarize the recent advancements in the molecular state-of-art tools towards the development of diagnostics, prophylactics, and therapeutics of these viruses. It also explicitly describes the challenges imposed by the emerging and transboundary viral infections and our preparedness to counter them.

This book adopts a direct experimental approach to evolutionary questions, drawing predominantly from research on microbial systems. The focus is on processes and mechanisms, and incorporates insights from recent advances in whole-genome sequencing, bioinformatics, environmental genomics and developmental genetics.

Avian Influenza provides the first comprehensive guide covering the full spectrum of this complex and increasingly high-profile disease, its history and its treatment and control. All aspects of avian influenza are dealt with in depth, systematically covering biology, virology, diagnostics, ecology, epidemiology, clinical medicine, and the control. The book fuses coverage of the latest discoveries in the basic sciences with a practical approach to dealing with the disease in a clinical setting, and providing instruction and guidance for veterinarians and government animal health officials encountering this disease in the field. Avian Influenza provides the reader with a global perspective, bringing together chapters written by leading animal health researchers and veterinarians with significant experience working with this disease. Providing a summary and synthesis of important data and research on this virus, its impact on both wild and domesticated birds, and approaches to controlling the spread of the disease, Avian Influenza will be an invaluable resource for all veterinarians, scientists, animal health professionals, and public health officials dealing with this virus. * Covers full range of topics within avian influenza in one comprehensive and authoritative text * Provides a summarization of peer-reviewed and empirical data on avian influenza viruses, the infection and diseases they cause * Discusses strategies used in control of the disease * Leading experts are drawn together to provide an international and multi-disciplinary perspective * Fuses latest developments in basic scientific research with practical guidance on management of the disease

A renaissance of virus research is taking centre stage in biology. Empirical data from the last decade indicate the important roles of viruses, both in the evolution of all life and as symbionts of host organisms. There is increasing evidence that all cellular life is colonized by exogenous and/or endogenous viruses in a non-lytic but persistent lifestyle. Viruses and viral parts form the most numerous genetic matter on this planet.