Caliciviruses: Molecular and Cellular Virology

Caliciviruses are positive-sense, single stranded RNA viruses containing 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 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 field 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; calicivirus 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.