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Reprogramming the host: Modification of cell functions upon viral infection
Gualtiero Alvisi, Giorgio Palù, Department of Molecular Medicine, Microbiology Section, 35121 Padua, Italy
Author contributions: Both the authors contributed to this paper.
Correspondence to: Gualtiero Alvisi, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Molecular Medicine, Microbiology Section, Via Gabelli 63, 35121 Padua, Italy. gualtiero.alvisi@unipd.it
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Received: April 22, 2013
Revised: April 27, 2013
Accepted: May 3, 2013
Published online: May 12, 2013
Processing time: 29 Days and 17.9 Hours
Revised: April 27, 2013
Accepted: May 3, 2013
Published online: May 12, 2013
Processing time: 29 Days and 17.9 Hours
Core Tip
Core tip: Viruses are obliged intracellular parasites causing million causalities every year. In order to successfully replicate their genome, viruses need to usurp the biosynthetic machinery of the host cell. Depending on the complexity and the nature of the genome, replication might involve or not a relatively large subset of viral products, in addition to a number of host cell factors, and take place in several subcellular compartments, including the nucleus, the cytoplasm, as well as virus-induced, rearranged membranes. We describe recent advances in our understanding of how viruses modulate cellular functions to successfully replicate at the expenses of human cells.