New insights into the applications of viruses to biotechnology

Viruses are responsible for many devastating human and animal diseases, such as Ebola, rabies, HIV, smallpox, influenza, dengue, and SARS-CoV-2. The deleterious impact of viruses is also shown in agriculture, wherein plant virus diseases account for USD30 billion in annual losses globally, thereby threatening world food security. Viruses are obligate parasites, and are present in all habitats where there is life. They are the most abundant agents on Earth; the estimated number of viral particles on earth is close to 10^31. Needless to say, the vast majority of viruses are unknown; however, the breakthrough and development of new sequencing technologies such as next-generation sequencing are accelerating the discovery of new viruses. The world of technology is evolving at a rapid pace, and innovative technologies are continuously being discovered, allowing the genetic manipulation of these available simple viral systems and making them attractive tools for exploitation in different fields of science. We can go back to the 18th century to find the first application of viruses in biotechnology; when, cowpox pustules were used to combat smallpox. All subsequent scientific advances have enabled us today to use highly efficient vaccines containing genetically modified viruses to combat COVID-19. Viruses are being used in the prevention and treatment of many infectious diseases or cancer, not only through vaccines, but also as vectors to carry and deliver substances in situ, in which we can take advantage of their capacity to target specific cells. In agriculture, viruses have been studied to introduce desirable characteristics in plants, showing their potential in plant breeding and plant protection. Viruses have also been used in materials science and nanotechnology as a source of nanoparticles and as building blocks. Other industries such as pharmacology, cosmetics, electronics, are some areas that are also benefiting from the potential uses of viruses. We cannot ignore the harm viruses can cause to us, but we also cannot ignore the good they can do, and the potential they have alongside the cutting edge technologies we possess. It is clear that the more they are studied, the more possibilities they offer. In this Special Issue ‘The Application of Viruses to Biotechnology, 2022’, we have gath- ered up-to-date research on the use of viruses in biotechnology, reinforcing the contribution these extraordinary agents to significant advances in science that would not be possible without their existence.

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