Viruses are masters of outsourcing, entrusting their fundamental function - reproduction - to the host cells they infect. But it turns out this highly economical approach also creates vulnerability.

This story is part of a larger series on viroids and virusoids, small infectious RNAs. It is also the fifth installment in a series on hepatitis D virus, a virusoid-like pathogen that causes serious ...

In a new study, published in Cell, researchers describe a newfound mechanism for creating proteins in a giant DNA virus, comparable to a mechanism in eukaryotic cells. The finding challenges the dogma ...

University of Pittsburgh researchers have shown for the first time how Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCV), which causes an aggressive skin cancer called Merkel cell carcinoma, initiates DNA replication in ...

A giant virus encodes part of the protein-making toolkit of cells that gives it greater control over its amoeba host, raising questions about how it evolved and how such beings relate to living organi ...

Cells take up solid particles using a process called endocytosis. How did scientists use viruses to learn about endocytic functions in cells? Aa Aa Aa Viruses are the smallest microorganisms in nature ...

For decades, biology textbooks have drawn a firm line: viruses are not alive. They lack the machinery to reproduce on their own, they carry no metabolism, and they depend entirely on host cells to ...

Researchers have found that dengue virus infects mosquito and human hosts using nonoptimal synonymous codons, potentially to avoid triggering an antiviral response. Researchers at the Stowers ...