Unconventional Viruses

Dear Colleagues,

Since its very beginning, with the serendipitous discovery of the tobacco mosaic virus by Dmitri Ivanovsky in 1892, virology has mostly focused on those viruses responsible for (often dreadful) diseases of human, animals, or plants. Most of the research was then dedicated to the mechanisms of pathogenicity rather than to the physiology of the viruses as biological entities. One noticeable exception was the study of bacteriophages that led to the basic concepts of modern cellular biology and to many of today’s molecular biology tools. About fifteen years ago, a second wind of virology occurred with the discovery of the first giant viruses infecting amoeba, rapidly followed by that of an unexpected diversity of families associated with other protozoan and algal hosts. Through isolations or large-scale environmental metagenomic studies, a flurry of new viruses has since been uncovered that are considered unconventional due to their virion size and morphology, unusual gene contents, or exotic modes of replication. Beyond their unanticipated diversity, these “unconventional viruses” are challenging the established borders between the viral and cellular worlds as well as traditional views on the origin of life.

This Special Issue will gladly welcome articles pertaining to any of these unconventional viruses, from virophages to multipartite RNA and DNA viruses, huge phages, archaeal viruses, giant DNA viruses, as well as to the emerging concept of virus-encoded metabolism.

Prof. Dr. Jean-Michel Claverie
Collection Editor

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