Role in evolution

 Viruses are an important natural means of transferring genes between different

species, which increases genetic diversity and drives evolution. It is thought that
viruses played a central role in early evolution, before the diversification of the
last universal common ancestor into bacteria, archaea and eukaryotes.
 Viruses are still one of the largest reservoirs of unexplored genetic diversity on
Earth.

VIRAL EVOLUTION
 Viral evolution is a subfield of evolutionary biology and virology that is specifically
concerned with the evolution of viruses.
 Viruses have short generation times, and many—in particular RNA viruses—have
relatively high mutation rates.
 This elevated mutation rate, when combined with natural selection, allows viruses
to quickly adapt to changes in their host environment. In addition, most viruses
provide many offspring, so any mutated genes can be passed on to many
offspring quickly.
 Although the chance of mutations and evolution can change depending on the
type of virus (double stranded DNA, double stranded RNA, single strand DNA,
etc.), viruses overall have high chances for mutations.
 Viruses evolve through changes in their RNA (or DNA), some quite rapidly, and
the best adapted mutants quickly outnumber their less fit counterparts. In this
sense their evolution is Darwinian. (The way viruses reproduce in their host cells
makes them particularly susceptible to the genetic changes that help to drive
their evolution)
 Many viruses (for example, influenza A virus) can "shuffle" their genes with other
viruses when two similar strains infect the same cell. This phenomenon is
called genetic shift, and is often the cause of new and more virulent strains
appearing. Other viruses change more slowly as mutations in their genes
gradually accumulate over time, a process known as antigenic drift.
 Through these mechanisms new viruses are constantly emerging and present a
continuing challenge in attempts to control the diseases they cause.
 Most species of viruses are now known to have common ancestors, and
although the "virus first" hypothesis has yet to gain full acceptance, there is little
doubt that the thousands of species of modern viruses have evolved from less
numerous ancient ones.

Application
Life sciences and medicine
 Viruses are important to the study of molecular and cell biology as they
provide simple systems that can be used to manipulate and investigate
the functions of cells.
  The study and use of viruses have provided valuable information about
aspects of cell biology.
 For example, viruses have been useful in the study of genetics and helped
our understanding of the basic mechanisms of molecular genetics, such
as DNA replication, transcription, RNA processing, translation, protein
transport, and immunology.
 Geneticists often use viruses as vectors to introduce genes into cells that
they are studying. This is useful for making the cell produce a foreign
substance, or to study the effect of introducing a new gene into the
genome.
 The study and use of viruses have provided valuable information about
aspects of cell biology.
 For example, viruses have been useful in the study of genetics and helped
our understanding of the basic mechanisms of molecular genetics, such
as DNA replication, transcription, RNA processing, translation, protein
transport, and immunology.
 Geneticists often use viruses as vectors to introduce genes into cells that
they are studying. This is useful for making the cell produce a foreign
substance, or to study the effect of introducing a new gene into the
genome.
 In a similar fashion, virotherapy uses viruses as vectors to treat various
diseases, as they can specifically target cells and DNA. It shows promising
use in the treatment of cancer and in gene therapy. Eastern European
scientists have used phage therapy as an alternative to antibiotics for
some time, and interest in this approach is increasing, because of the high
level of antibiotic resistance now found in some pathogenic bacteria. The
expression of heterologous proteins by viruses is the basis of several
manufacturing processes that are currently being used for the production
of various proteins such as vaccine antigens and antibodies. Industrial
processes have been recently developed using viral vectors and a
number of pharmaceutical proteins are currently in pre-clinical and
clinical trials.

Virotherapy
Virotherapy involves the use of genetically modified viruses to treat diseases. Viruses have been
modified by scientists to reproduce in cancer cells and destroy them but not infect healthy cells.
-Talimogene laherparepvec (T-VEC), for example, is a modified herpes simplex virus that has had
a gene, which is required for viruses to replicate in healthy cells, deleted and replaced with a
human gene (GM-CSF) that stimulates immunity. When this virus infects cancer cells, it destroys
them and in doing so the presence the GM-CSF gene attracts dendritic cells from the
surrounding tissues of the body.
-The dendritic cells process the dead cancer cells and present components of them to other
cells of the immune system.Having completed successful clinical trials, the virus gained approval
for the treatment of melanoma in late 2015.
Viruses that have been reprogrammed to kill cancer cells are called oncolytic viruses.
Materials science and nanotechnology
 Current trends in nanotechnology promise to make much more versatile
use of viruses. From the viewpoint of a materials scientist, viruses can be
regarded as organic nanoparticles. Their surface carries specific tools
designed to cross the barriers of their host cells. The size and shape of
viruses and the number and nature of the functional groups on their
surface is precisely defined.
 As such, viruses are commonly used in materials science as scaffolds for
covalently linked surface modifications.
 A particular quality of viruses is that they can be tailored by directed
evolution. The powerful techniques developed by life sciences are
becoming the basis of engineering approaches towards nanomaterials,
opening a wide range of applications far beyond biology and medicine.
 Because of their size, shape, and well-defined chemical structures, viruses
have been used as templates for organising materials on the nanoscale.
Recent examples include work at the Naval Research Laboratory in
Washington, D.C., using Cowpea mosaic virus (CPMV) particles to amplify
signals in DNA microarray based sensors. In this application, the virus
particles separate the fluorescent dyes used for signalling to prevent the
formation of non-fluorescent dimers that act as quenchers.[255] Another
example is the use of CPMV as a nanoscale breadboard for molecular
electronics.

Synthetic viruses
 Many viruses can be synthesised de novo ("from scratch") and the first
synthetic virus was created in 2002. Although somewhat of a
misconception, it is not the actual virus that is synthesised, but rather its
DNA genome (in case of a DNA virus), or a cDNA copy of its genome (in
case of RNA viruses).
 For many virus families the naked synthetic DNA or RNA (once
enzymatically converted back from the synthetic cDNA) is infectious
when introduced into a cell. That is, they contain all the necessary
information to produce new viruses. This technology is now being used to
investigate novel vaccine strategies.
 The ability to synthesise viruses has far-reaching consequences, since
viruses can no longer be regarded as extinct, as long as the information of
their genome sequence is known and permissive cells are available. As of
November 2017, the full-length genome sequences of 7454 different
viruses, including smallpox, are publicly available in an online database
maintained by the National Institutes of Health.
TRANSMISSION
 Viruses have been able to continue their infectious existence due to evolution.
Their rapid mutation rates and natural selection has given viruses the advantage
to continue to spread. One way that viruses have been able to spread is with the
evolution of virus transmission. The virus can find a new host through

Droplet transmission- passed on through body fluids (sneezing on someone)

An example is the influenza virus
Airborne transmission- passed on through the air (brought in by breathing)
An example would be how viral meningitis is passed on
Vector transmission- picked up by a carrier and brought to a new host
An example is viral encephalitis
Waterborne transmission- leaving a host, infecting the water, and being consumed in a
new host
Poliovirus is an example for this
Sit-and-wait-transmission- the virus is living outside a host for long periods of time
The smallpox virus is also an example for this

 There are also some ideas behind the idea that virulence, or the harm that the
virus does on its host, depends on a few factors. These factors also have an
effect on how the level of virulence will change over time.
 Viruses that transmit through vertical transmission (transmission to the offspring of
the host) will evolve to have lower levels of virulence.
 Viruses that transmit through horizontal transmission (transmission between
members of the same species that don't have a parent-child relationship) will
usually evolve to have a higher virulence.