Viruses are widely present in nature, and numerous viral species with a variety of unique characteristics have been identified so far. Even now, new emerging or re-emerging viruses are being found or re-found as novel viral classes or as quasi-species. Indeed, viruses are everywhere. Of note, viruses are pivotal as targets and tools of basic and applied sciences. On one hand, portions of the viruses are infectious for animals including humans, and cause various diseases in infected hosts by distinct mechanisms and at a different level of severity. While many of viruses are known to co-exist quietly with their hosts, pathogenic viruses certainly affect and threaten our society as well as individuals to provoke serious medical or economic attention. We should act against certain dreadful and highly infectious viruses as a global problem. Animal RNA viruses can readily mutate to adapt themselves in their hostile environments for their survival. Resultant viruses may sometimes show essentially altered phenotypes from the original parental strains. This fundamental and general property of animal RNA viruses represents major extensive issues of scientific, medical, and/or economic importance. In this Research Topic, we have focused on the high mutability of animal RNA viruses, and selected relevant articles on animal viruses of broad-ranges such as primate lentiviruses, influenza viruses, paramyxoviruses, flaviviruses, rabies virus, norovirus, picornaviruses, and picobirnavirus. Each article has taken up intriguing aspects of the subject viruses. We are sure that readers acquire important information on virus mutation, adaptation, diversification, and evolution, and hope that researchers in the field related to virology gain some solid hints from the reported articles for further virological and /or medical studies. Finally, we thank all the contributing researchers in this Research Topic, entitled “Highly Mutable Animal RNA Viruses: Adaptation and Evolution”, for their elegant and interesting works.

This book adopts an experimental approach to understanding the mechanisms of evolution and the nature of evolutionary processes, with examples drawn from microbial, plant and animal systems. It incorporates insights from remarkable recent advances in theoretical modelling, and the fields of molecular genetics and environmental genomics. Adaptation is caused by selection continually winnowing the genetic variation created by mutation. In the last decade, our knowledge of how selection operates on populations in the field and in the laboratory has increased enormously, and the principal aim of this book is to provide an up-to-date account of selection as the principal agent of evolution. In the classical Fisherian model, weak selection acting on many genes of small effect over long periods of time is responsible for driving slow and gradual change. However, it is now clear that adaptation in laboratory populations often involves strong selection acting on a few genes of large effect, while in the wild selection is often strong and highly variable in space and time. Indeed these results are changing our perception of how evolutionary change takes place. This book summarizes our current understanding of the causes and consequences of selection, with an emphasis on quantitative and experimental studies. It includes the latest research into experimental evolution, natural selection in the wild, artificial selection, selfish genetic elements, selection in social contexts, sexual selection, and speciation.

A renaissance of virus research is taking centre stage in biology. Empirical data from the last decade indicate the important roles of viruses, both in the evolution of all life and as symbionts of host organisms. There is increasing evidence that all cellular life is colonized by exogenous and/or endogenous viruses in a non-lytic but persistent lifestyle. Viruses and viral parts form the most numerous genetic matter on this planet.

Encyclopedia of Environmental Health, Second Edition, Six Volume Set presents the newest release in this fundamental reference that updates and broadens the umbrella of environmental health, especially social and environmental health for its readers. There is ongoing revolution in governance, policies and intervention strategies aimed at evolving changes in health disparities, disease burden, trans-boundary transport and health hazards. This new edition reflects these realities, mapping new directions in the field that include how to minimize threats and develop new scientific paradigms that address emerging local, national and global environmental concerns. Represents a one-stop resource for scientifically reliable information on environmental health Fills a critical gap, with information on one of the most rapidly growing scientific fields of our time Provides comparative approaches to environmental health practice and research in different countries and regions of the world Covers issues behind specific questions and describes the best available scientific methods for environmental risk assessment

Publishes original critical reviews of the significant literature and current development in microbiology.

ADVANCED FERMENTATION AND CELL TECHNOLOGY A comprehensive and up-to-date reference covering both conventional and novel industrial fermentation technologies and their applications Fermentation and cell culture technologies encompass more than the conventional microbial and enzyme systems used in the agri-food, biochemical, bioenergy and pharmaceutical industries. New technologies such as genetic engineering, systems biology, protein engineering, and mammalian cell and plant cell systems are expanding rapidly, as is the demand for sustainable production of bioingredients, drugs, bioenergy and biomaterials. As the growing biobased economy drives innovation, industrial practitioners, instructors, researchers, and students must keep pace with the development and application of novel fermentation processes and a variety of cell technologies. Advanced Fermentation and Cell Technology provides a balanced and comprehensive overview of the microbial, mammalian, and plant cell technologies used by the modern biochemical process industry to develop new and improved processes and products. This authoritative volume covers the essential features of advanced fermentation and cell technology, and highlights the interaction of food fermentation and cell culture biopharmaceutical actives. Detailed chapters, organized into five sections, cover microbial cell technology, animal and plant cell technology, safety issues of new biotechnologies, and applications of microbial fermentation to food products, chemicals, and pharmaceuticals. Written by an internationally-recognized expert in food biotechnology, this comprehensive volume: Covers both conventional and novel industrial fermentation technologies and their applications in a range of industries Discusses current progress in novel fermentation, cell culture, commercial recombinant bioproducts technologies Includes overviews of the global market size of bioproducts and the fundamentals of cell technology Highlights the importance of sustainability, Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP), quality assurance, and regulatory practices Explores microbial cell technology and culture tools and techniques such as genome shuffling and recombinant DNA technology, RNA interference and CRISPR technology, molecular thermodynamics, protein engineering, proteomics and bioinformatics, and synthetic biology Advanced Fermentation and Cell Technology is an ideal resource for students of food science, biotechnology, microbiology, agricultural sciences, biochemical engineering, and biochemistry, and is a valuable reference for food scientists, researchers, and technologists throughout the food industry, particularly the dairy, bakery, and fermented beverage sectors.

those who deal with infectious diseases on a daily This two volume work stems from the belief of the Editors that infectious diseases are not only very basis. much with us today but, more importantly, that they There are several excellent textbooks dealing will continue to playa significant global role in mor with medical microbiology, and there are equally bidity and mortality in all people. A continuing need well-recognized books devoted to infectious dis for an informed and knowledgeable community of eases. The Editors of this work, on the other hand, were persuaded that there was a need for a publica laboratory scientists is fundamental. Data describing tion that would bring together the most pertinent and the global impact of infectious diseases are difficult to come by. Fortunately, a recent thoughtful and relevant information on the principles and practice of provocative publication by Bennett et al. (1987) pro the laboratory diagnosis of infectious diseases and vides us with data derived from several consultants include clinical relationships. While this two volume that clearly delineate the impact of infectious dis text is directed toward the role of the laboratory in eases on the United States today.