A viral ORFeome library for systems-level genetic dissection of host-pathogen interactions.
- Open access
A viral ORFeome library of approximately 12,000 vORFs from 513 viral species reveals hundreds of viral regulators affecting host immune responses and cell proliferation.
- Why it matters: Understanding how diverse viruses manipulate host cellular processes is crucial for developing broad-spectrum antiviral strategies, yet systematic functional analysis of viral proteins has been limited.
- What they did: The researchers constructed a barcoded library of viral open reading frames and performed large-scale screens to identify viral regulators of proliferation, MHC class I antigen presentation, and interferon signaling, including detailed studies of two uncharacterized proteins.
- The result: This approach uncovered functional modules and characterized viral proteins MC162R and YLDV 151R, demonstrating the library’s potential to facilitate comprehensive, systems-level dissection of viral protein functions across the virome.