Year: 2013
Type: review
Abstract: Viral pathogen discovery is of critical importance to clinical microbiology, infectious diseases, and public health. Genomic approaches for pathogen discovery, including consensus polymerase chain reaction (PCR), microarrays, and unbiased next-generation sequencing (NGS), have the capacity to comprehensively identify novel microbes present in clinical samples. Although numerous challenges remain to be addressed, including the bioinformatics analysis and interpretation of large datasets, these technologies have been successful in rapidly identifying emerging outbreak threats, screening vaccines and other biological products for microbial contamination, and discovering novel viruses associated with both acute and chronic illnesses. Downstream studies such as genome assembly, epidemiologic screening, and a culture system or animal model of infection are necessary to establish an association of a candidate pathogen with disease.
Source: Current Opinion in Microbiology
Author: Charles Y Chiu
Institution: University of California, San Francisco
Language: English
Subfield: Molecular Biology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,800
OpenAlex ID: W2111664429