Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 17, 2026

Unbiased Deep Sequencing of RNA Viruses from Clinical Samples
Published on: July 2, 2016
Molecular epidemiology of viral infections. How sequence information helps us understand the evolution and
O Hungnes1, T O Jonassen, C M Jonassen
1Department of Virology, National Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway.
Abstract:
Viruses evolve much faster than cellular organisms. Together with recent advances in nucleic acid sequencing and biocomputing, this allows us to distinguish between related strains of viruses, and to deduce the relationships between viruses from different outbreaks or individual patients. Databases of nucleotide sequences contain a large number of viral sequences with which novel sequences from local outbreaks can be compared. In this way the dissemination of viruses can be followed both locally and globally. We here review the biological and technological background to the use of virus nucleic acid sequences in epidemiological studies, and provide examples of how this information can be used to monitor human viruses. Molecular studies are particularly valuable for understanding the dissemination and evolution of viruses. The knowledge obtained is useful in epidemiological reconstructions, in real-time surveillance, and may even enable us to make predictions about the future developments of viral diseases.
Related Concept Videos
Viral Mutations
Modern Molecular Taxonomy
Viral Recombination
Size and Structure of Viral Genomes
Retroviruses
Evolutionary Relationships through Genome Comparisons

