Year: 2026
Type: editorial
Abstract: Viral genome sequencing has become a routine component of infectious disease surveillance, yet the 12 interpretive value of sequence data depends on the questions they are designed to answer and the 13 resolution at which they are generated. Diagnostic assay performance is constrained by conservation 14 of the target region, and vaccine efficacy by the degree to which circulating antigens have diverged 15 from the reference strain. The five studies in this Research Topic address this interface across enteric, 16 respiratory, and blood-borne viruses in China, Iraq, and Bulgaria. Despite methodological diversity 17-from single-gene genotyping to unbiased metagenomics and molecular dynamics simulation -18 they converge on a common finding: surveillance data are most actionable when generated at a 19 resolution sufficient to detect genetic change with diagnostic or vaccine-relevant consequences. 20 Gong et al. (2025) Three observations apply across the collection. First, the resolution of analysis must match the 70 question: recombination, discordance between genomic fragments, and unanticipated agents are not 71 detectable at the resolution at which most diagnostic laboratories operate. Second, the reference 72 databases these analyses depend on remain geographically uneven, and several groups were required 73 to construct local reference datasets before their sequences could be placed in a broader context, 74 underscoring that regional sequencing capacity is a prerequisite for globally coherent surveillance.
Source: Frontiers in Virology
Authors: Mohamed H. Maarouf, Amro Hashish, Kul Raj Rai
Language: English
Subfield: Infectious Diseases
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,353
OpenAlex ID: W7223985711