Overlapping Genes in Viral Genomes
A special issue of Viruses (ISSN 1999-4915). This special issue belongs to the section "General Virology".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (25 September 2024) | Viewed by 2300
Special Issue Editors
Interests: HIV-1 persistence; HIV-1 cure; the HIV-1 antisense gene; ASP
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
To ensure their successful replication and spread, viruses must overcome formidable challenges. Among them are the ability to take over and coerce the host’s machinery to their advantage, and the capacity to elude or subvert the host’s antiviral defenses. What is more impressive is the fact that to achieve these tasks, viruses can rely on a significantly smaller number of genes than the cells they invade. Most often, the creation of new viral genes cannot involve an increase in the size of their genomes, which otherwise would put them at risk of not being able to fit into the viral capsid. However, viruses have mastered a clever alternative strategy to achieve their goals, namely overlapping genes. Viral genomes often include multiple genes encoded in different reading frames of the same genomic region, and in both orientations. This strategy presents advantages (such as unchanged genome size) and disadvantages (such as reciprocal constraints on gene evolution). Nevertheless, the widespread use of overlapping genes in all realms of viruses suggests that this is a successful strategy from an evolutionary standpoint. In this Special Issue of Viruses, we invite you to share your findings on this intriguing and under-appreciated strategy.
Dr. Fabio Romerio
Dr. Angelo Pavesi
Guest Editors
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Keywords
- viral genomes
- overlapping genes
- sense overlap
- antisense overlap
- reading frames
- host/virus interaction
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