Strategies of Virus Persistence

Persistent viral infections remain a global problem due to the high burden of disease, particularly in immunocompromised and immunosuppressed individuals, and the lack of treatment options. An increasing number of viruses as diverse as herpesviruses, retroviruses, paramyxoviruses and coronaviruses are known to establish lifelong or transient persistent infections in their hosts. Persistence is also a common theme among viruses that infect non-human animals, plants and microbes. Viruses persist either in a replicative state (chronic infection) or in a non-replicative form (latent infection) with restricted viral gene expression. Key to viral persistence during latency is the maintenance of viral genomes in a reversibly silenced form via integration into the cellular genome or as extrachromosomal episomes. Disease typically results from reactivation following viral genome desilencing, depending on immune control mechanisms. A better understanding of the mechanisms underlying viral persistence will aid the development of therapeutic approaches aimed at locking viral genomes in a latent state or promoting their clearance.

The aim of this Research Topic is to collect articles that address the persistence of DNA and RNA viruses that infect humans, animals, plants and microbes. By providing the most up-to-date information in this area, we hope that this collection will improve our understanding of lifelong or transient viral persistence through latent or chronic infection, including mechanisms of viral genome maintenance, transcriptional silencing, and immune evasion or suppression. By bringing together articles on the persistence of different viruses in a single collection, we hope to facilitate the identification of common patterns and promote communication between research communities and across disciplinary boundaries. This improved understanding will inform the development of better treatments or even cures for human diseases caused by persistent viral infections.

We invite submissions of original research or review articles on a range of sub-topics, including but not limited to:

- Mechanisms of lifelong or transient persistence of DNA and RNA viruses in humans, animals (e.g. zoonotic viruses), plants and microbes (e.g. bacteriophages)

- Mechanisms of viral chronic infection in different host cells and organisms

- Mechanisms of viral latency establishment and maintenance in different host cells and organisms

- Mechanisms of viral episome maintenance and genome integration

- Molecular processes that facilitate persistent virus infection including signaling events, transcriptional silencing and epigenetic regulation

- Cellular and molecular host immune responses and viral immune evasion or suppression mechanisms that facilitate persistent virus infections

- Experimental and clinical approaches to target persistent viruses, including ‘block-and-lock’ and ‘shock-and-kill’ strategies