Caliciviruses: Molecular and Cellular Virology

Caliciviruses are positive-sense, single-stranded RNA viruses comprising four recognized genera: Norovirus, Sapovirus, Lagovirus and Vesivirus. They are ubiquitous in the environment and are a major cause of disease in humans and many animals. Examples include Norwalk virus, a norovirus thought to be responsible for roughly 90% of epidemic, non-bacterial outbreaks of gastroenteritis in humans around the world. Lack of a suitable cell culture system for human caliciviruses has limited studies in previous decades; however, the recent application of modern genomic technologies has revolutionized the field, leading to an explosion in calicivirus publications. In this book, a panel of experts distil the most important up-to-date research findings in their respective calicivirus fields of study, producing timely and comprehensive reviews. Each chapter gives the reader a brief introduction to the topic followed by a descriptive discussion of the past and present research areas. Topics include norovirus epidemiology; calicivirus contamination of the environment; genome organization and recombination, proteolytic cleavage and viral proteins; viral protein structures; virus-host interactions; calivirus reverse genetics and replicon systems; feline calicivirus; swine calicivirus; murine norovirus pathogenesis and immunity; murine norovirus translation, replication and reverse genetics; and lagoviruses.

This book is essential reading for all virologists working on caliciviruses and related viruses and is recommended for all virology, immunology and molecular biology laboratories.