Whither Herpesviruses

Abstract

Viruses have been described as computer cartridges in search of a computer. The comparison may at least for the moment exaggerate the power of computers, but the resemblance is not altogether all that bad: the medium containing the program, the genetic material, is encased in a container that both protects and enables access to the encrypted program by a computer, the cell. While we may be fascinated by the structure of the program medium, the DNA genome, or of the cartridge, the virion, the lifelong quest of many virologists is to decipher in order to understand precisely what encrypted commands in the viral genome are responsible for the biology of the viruses they study. To the question, Whither will herpesvirus research go? the answer remains the same: elucidation of the signals in the DNA genome that determine expression and complete understanding of the function of each of the gene products. Unlike a decade ago, however, numerous signposts indicate that the question is no longer perfunctory and the response is not bereft of operational hypotheses. Indeed, clues are emerging rather rapidly, and some of them deserve a detailed examination.