Microbiome and Retrovirology is calling for submissions to our Collection on "Retroviruses & the Microbiome."
Mucosal surfaces are the site of most HIV transmission events. Furthermore, the gastrointestinal mucosa is an early target for viral immune destruction, and persistent dysfunction of the barrier is implicated in allowing microbial translocation as a driver of chronic inflammation, These studies of HIV reveal critical interactions between retroviruses and the global microbiome, which has illuminated the need to understand such relationships broadly across retroviruses, microbiome niches and host species.
Retrovirus integration results in these viruses being an integral component of the host, whether replication competent or endogenous, and the microbiome is an equally integral component of the host organism. Thus, understanding the integrated relationships is key to understanding not just infectious diseases but underlying integrated host physiology.
The goal of this issue is to bring together new original research on and cutting-edge reviews of new insights the mechanistic basis for interactions between microbial components of the microbiome across species, retroviruses and microbial niches. The focus of this issue is to move beyond associations to mechanisms and functional interactions, including both replication-competent and endogenous retroviruses, human and non-human hosts, and implications for homeostasis, disease and/or therapeutics.
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