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Viruses
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Food-Associated and Foodborne Viruses: A Food Safety Concern or Tool?
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Food-Associated and Foodborne Viruses: A Food Safety Concern or Tool?

A special issue of Viruses (ISSN 1999-4915). This special issue belongs to the section "General Virology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 February 2026) | Viewed by 707

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Ningbo Liao

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
College of Food Science and Engineering, Jiangxi Agricultural University, Nanchang 330045, China
Interests: investigating the epidemiology of foodborne viruses (notably norovirus)
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Daofeng Liu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Jiangxi Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Nanchang 330045, China
Interests: viral zoonoses to develop targeted interventions that disrupt transmission chains across the food supply
Dr. Hao Yan

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Zhejiang Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Hangzhou 330051, China
Interests: advancing rapid; field-deployable virus detection technologies for real-time food safety monitoring; outbreak prevention; one Health integration

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Viruses in the food system present a dual role: as significant threats to public health and as innovative tools for enhancing food safety. This Special Issue explores this dichotomy through cutting-edge research and reviews. On the one hand, foodborne viruses (e.g., norovirus, hepatitis A, and rotavirus) cause substantial global disease burdens, with norovirus alone infecting millions annually and showing high detection rates across all age groups. Emerging zoonotic viruses, like highly pathogenic strains of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus (PEDV), further highlight transmission risks at the animal–human interface, where genetic mutations enable immune evasion and increased virulence. On the other hand, viruses such as bacteriophages are leveraged as biocontrol agents against bacterial pathogens (e.g., Salmonella, Listeria), while plant-derived antiviral phytochemicals (e.g., quercetin, resveratrol) offer natural solutions to combat viral contamination in foods. Advanced detection technologies, including click chemistry-based biosensors, enable rapid, on-site identification of viral hazards, revolutionizing food safety monitoring.

This issue also examines the potential of food-grade viral vectors for vaccine delivery and the use of viral components in sustainable packaging. By dissecting both threats and applications, we aim to foster a holistic One Health approach, balancing risk mitigation with technological innovation to transform food-associated viruses from concerns into solutions.

Dr. Ningbo Liao
Dr. Daofeng Liu
Dr. Hao Yan
Guest Editors

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 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

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. Viruses 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.

Keywords

  • foodborne viruses
  • norovirus epidemiology
  • viral zoonoses
  • phage biocontrol
  • food viromics
  • virus detection technologies

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

14 pages, 5669 KB  
Article
Structural Insights into the Interaction Between a Core-Fucosylated Foodborne Hexasaccharide (H2N2F2) and Human Norovirus P Proteins
by Zilei Zhang, Yuchen Wang, Jiaqi Xu, Fei Liu, Shumin Li, Justin Troy Cox, Liang Xue and Danlei Liu
Viruses 2026, 18(1), 131; https://doi.org/10.3390/v18010131 - 20 Jan 2026
Viewed by 448
Abstract
Background: Human noroviruses are the leading cause of foodborne gastroenteritis worldwide. Accumulating evidence suggests that food matrices containing fucosylated or histo-blood group antigen (HBGA)-like glycans may facilitate viral attachment and persistence, yet the molecular mechanisms underlying these interactions remain unclear. Methods: In this [...] Read more.
Background: Human noroviruses are the leading cause of foodborne gastroenteritis worldwide. Accumulating evidence suggests that food matrices containing fucosylated or histo-blood group antigen (HBGA)-like glycans may facilitate viral attachment and persistence, yet the molecular mechanisms underlying these interactions remain unclear. Methods: In this study, we performed a comparative computational analysis of norovirus–glycan interactions by integrating AlphaFold3-based structure prediction, molecular docking, and molecular dynamics simulations. A total of 182 P-domain models representing all genotypes across five human norovirus genogroups (GI, GII, GIV, GVIII, and GIX) were predicted and docked with a lettuce-derived core-fucosylated hexasaccharide (H2N2F2) previously identified by our group. The three complexes exhibiting the most favorable docking energies were further examined using 40 ns molecular dynamics simulations, followed by MM/GBSA binding free energy calculations and per-residue decomposition analyses. Results: Docking results indicated that the majority of modeled P proteins were able to adopt energetically favorable interaction poses with H2N2F2, with predicted binding energies ranging from −3.7 to −7.2 kcal·mol−1. The most favorable docking energies were observed for GII.6_S9c_KC576910 (−7.2 kcal·mol−1), GII.3_MX_U22498 (−7.1 kcal·mol−1), and GII.4_CARGDS11182_OR700741 (−6.8 kcal·mol−1). Molecular dynamics simulations suggested stable ligand engagement within canonical HBGA-binding pockets, with recurrent residues such as Asp374, Gln393, and Arg345 contributing to electrostatic and hydrophobic interactions, consistent with previously reported HBGA-binding motifs. MM/GBSA analyses revealed comparatively favorable binding tendencies among these complexes, particularly for globally prevalent genotypes including GII.3, GII.4, and GII.6. Conclusions: This work provides a large-scale structural and energetic assessment of the potential interactions between a naturally occurring lettuce-derived fucosylated hexasaccharide and human norovirus P domains. The results support the notion that core-fucosylated food-associated glycans can serve as interaction partners for diverse norovirus genotypes and offer comparative molecular insights into glycan recognition patterns relevant to foodborne transmission. The integrative AlphaFold3–docking–dynamics framework presented here may facilitate future investigations of virus–glycan interactions within food matrices. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Food-Associated and Foodborne Viruses: A Food Safety Concern or Tool?)
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