Virology articles within Nature

Featured

  • Opinion |

    Translational-research programmes supported by flexible, long-term, large-scale grants are needed to turn advances in basic science into successful vaccines to halt the AIDS epidemic, says Wayne C. Koff.

    • Wayne C. Koff

  • News & Views |

    Every machine is made of parts. But, as the new structure of the HIV integrase enzyme in complex with viral DNA shows, one could not have predicted from the individual parts just how this machine works.

    • Robert Craigie

  • Letter |

    The Red Queen hypothesis predicts that coevolution should increase the rate of evolution at the molecular level. Here, genome sequencing in an experimental phage–bacteria system is used to show that this is true, but the effect is concentrated on specific loci, and also that coevolution drives greater diversification of phage populations.

    • Steve Paterson
    • , Tom Vogwill
    •  & Michael A. Brockhurst

  • Letter |

    Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) are widely dispersed in mammalian genomes, and are silenced in somatic cells by DNA methylation. Here, an ERV silencing pathway independent of DNA methylation is shown to operate in embryonic stem cells. The pathway involves the histone H3K9 methyltransferase ESET and might be important for ERV silencing during the stages in embryogenesis when DNA methylation is reprogrammed.

    • Toshiyuki Matsui
    • , Danny Leung
    •  & Yoichi Shinkai

  • Letter |

    High mutation rates in the influenza A virus facilitate the generation of viral escape mutants, rendering vaccines and drugs potentially ineffective, but targeting host cell determinants could prevent viral escape. Here, 287 human host cell genes influencing influenza A virus replication are found using a genome-wide RNA interference screen. An independent assay is then used to investigate overlap between genes necessary for different viral strains.

    • Alexander Karlas
    • , Nikolaus Machuy
    •  & Thomas F. Meyer

  • Letter |

    Much of the mammalian genome is derived from retroelements, a significant proportion of which are endogenous retroviruses (ERVs). ERVs are transcriptionally silenced during early embryogenesis by histone and DNA methylation, but the initiators of this process are largely unknown. Here, deletion of KAP1 is shown to lead to a marked upregulation of a range of ERVs in mouse embryonic stem cells and in early embryos.

    • Helen M. Rowe
    • , Johan Jakobsson
    •  & Didier Trono

  • News & Views |

    A survey of mammalian genomes has unexpectedly unearthed DNA derived from bornaviruses, leading to speculation about the role of these viruses in causing mutations with evolutionary and medical consequences.

    • Cédric Feschotte

Browse broader subjects

Browse narrower subjects

Browse Virology across other nature.com journals