Dear Colleagues,

Viruses are obligate intracellular pathogens that depend on the host cell machinery and metabolism for replication. To thrive within the host, viruses leverage their small genome to synthesize viral proteins to evade host detection. Moreover, emerging studies now support that viruses can exploit host metabolism to synthesize macromolecules and ATP for viral propagation. Examples include the induction glycolysis to promote ATP production, elevating mitochondrial metabolism to increase oxidative phosphorylation, altering mitochondrial dynamics to enhance respiratory activity, and increased lipid synthesis to facilitate viral entry, replication, and assembly. Therefore, a detailed understanding of these virus–metabolic interactions could facilitate the development of specific antiviral therapeutics against viral diseases. In addition to their role in the viral life cycle, virus–metabolic interactions are increasingly known to be involved in disease pathogenesis. Indeed, individuals with disrupted metabolism caused by aging, obesity, and diabetes are more susceptible to severe outcomes after viral infection. Viruses can also trigger oxidative stress response, maladaptive unfolded protein response (UPR), and dysregulated host metabolism that leads to increased inflammation and cell death—both of which potentiate viral pathogenesis.

This Special Issue will highlight the various aspects of how viruses interact with host metabolism to promote viral infection and disease pathogenesis. We seek to showcase how viruses can alter host cell metabolism and their consequent impact on the viral life cycle and disease pathogenesis. We are also interested in manuscripts that interrogate how baseline variations in host metabolism, caused by genetic, dietary, environment or chronic diseases, can impact the outcome of virus infection and host responses to viruses, especially in the context of disease pathogenesis. Finally, we also welcome studies on therapeutic interventions that can modulate host metabolism, and their consequent effects on viral infection and disease pathogenesis.

You may choose our Joint Special Issue in Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease.

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Life is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• Viruses
• Cell metabolism
• Virus–host metabolic interactions
• Host metabolic responses
• Metabolic therapeutics
• Baseline between-individual differences

• Viral-Host Metabolic Interactions in Tropical Medicine and Infectious Disease (1 article)