Viruses are acellular infectious agents that depend entirely on host cellular machinery for replication and are therefore studied as a central topic in microbiology, virology, and infectious disease research. They consist minimally of a nucleic acid genome (DNA or RNA, single- or double-stranded, linear or circular) enclosed in a protein capsid, and in many cases a host-derived lipid envelope containing viral glycoproteins. Viral classification and research focus on genome organization, replication strategies, host range, tropism, mechanisms of cell entry and egress, immune evasion, and evolutionary dynamics, as well as their roles in pathogenesis, horizontal gene transfer, and biotechnology applications such as vectors and phage therapy.
A new study led by researchers at the University of Minnesota found transmission of viruses between different bee species did not lead to the formation of new virus variants.
Ecology
Jun 17, 2025
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Scientists at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard have identified 4,208 previously unannotated open reading frames (ORFs) across 679 human-associated viral genomes using a high-throughput method called massively parallel ...
Bacteria, viruses and fungi are masters at evolving new strategies to infiltrate plants and cause disease that harm crops. To get ahead of these pathogens, University of Saskatchewan (USask) researchers like Dr. Valentyna ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Jun 12, 2025
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64
Diseases in the ocean, caused by viruses, bacteria or parasites, can have far-reaching consequences for marine ecosystems. For this reason research has primarily focused on their ecological significance. However, the socioeconomic ...
Ecology
Jun 11, 2025
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Thanks to a clever modification of the baculovirus, vaccines can now be produced in insect cells more easily and cleaner. Researchers at Wageningen University & Research (WUR) have successfully developed vaccine material ...
Cell & Microbiology
Jun 10, 2025
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22
Even with today's advanced agricultural technologies, plant diseases can still be extremely devastating to crops, causing billions of dollars in losses worldwide every year. Begomoviruses represent a prominent example of ...
Molecular & Computational biology
Jun 9, 2025
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Inspired by the way viruses attach to cells, EPFL scientists have developed a method for engineering ultra-selective aptamers.
Bio & Medicine
Jun 6, 2025
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The global fight against infectious diseases faces two major challenges: the threat of new pandemic outbreaks and the alarming rise of antimicrobial resistance driven by the excessive use of antibiotics. As pathogens continue ...
Bio & Medicine
May 21, 2025
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65
The COVID-19 pandemic increased public awareness of the importance of mask use for personal protection. However, when the mesh size of mask fabrics is small enough to capture viruses, which are usually around one hundred ...
Bio & Medicine
May 20, 2025
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282
Controlling the topology and structure of entangled molecular strands is a key challenge in molecular engineering, particularly when attempting to create large nanostructures that mimic biological systems. Examples found ...
Bio & Medicine
May 9, 2025
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