The Future of Virology is Synthetic

Overview

Journal mSystems

Publisher American Society for Microbiology

Specialty Microbiology

Date 2021 Aug 31

PMID 34463577

Citations 6

Authors

Richard Allen White 3rd

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The virosphere (i.e., global virome) represents a vast library of unknown genes on the planet. Synthetic biology through engineering principles could be the key to unlocking this massive global gene repository. Synthetic viruses may also be used as tools to understand "the rules of life" in diverse microbial ecosystems. Such insights may be crucial for understanding the assembly, diversity, structure, and scale of virus-mediated function. Viruses directly affect resilience, stability, and microbial community selection via death resistance cycles. Interpreting and clarifying these effects is essential for predicting the system's ecology, evolution, and ecosystem stability in an increasingly unstable global climate. A "silent looming pandemic" due to multidrug-resistant microbes will directly impact the global economy, and synthetic virology could provide a future strategy of treatment using targeted viral therapy. This commentary will discuss current techniques for manipulating viruses synthetically, contributing to improved human health and sustainable agriculture.

Citing Articles

Optimization of PCA Error Correction Conditions to Improve Efficiency of Virus Genome De Novo Synthesis.

Cui J, Hu A, Xiong X, Wang Q, Zhu C, Chen Z Int J Mol Sci. 2024; 25(21).

PMID: 39519066 PMC: 11547124. DOI: 10.3390/ijms252111514.

DeGenPrime provides robust primer design and optimization unlocking the biosphere.

Fulghum B, Tanker S, White 3rd R Bioinform Adv. 2024; 4(1):vbae044.

PMID: 38590916 PMC: 11001487. DOI: 10.1093/bioadv/vbae044.

MetaCerberus: distributed highly parallelized HMM-based processing for robust functional annotation across the tree of life.

Figueroa Iii J, Dhungel E, Bellanger M, Brouwer C, White Iii R Bioinformatics. 2024; 40(3).

PMID: 38426351 PMC: 10955254. DOI: 10.1093/bioinformatics/btae119.

Viral enumeration using cost-effective wet-mount epifluorescence microscopy for aquatic ecosystems and modern microbialites.

Bellanger M, Visscher P, White 3rd R Appl Environ Microbiol. 2023; 89(12):e0174423.

PMID: 38014959 PMC: 10734538. DOI: 10.1128/aem.01744-23.

The Post-Antibiotic Era: A New Dawn for Bacteriophages.

Jin Y, Li W, Zhang H, Ba X, Li Z, Zhou J Biology (Basel). 2023; 12(5).

PMID: 37237494 PMC: 10215799. DOI: 10.3390/biology12050681.

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