Innovating virology: from empirical verification to hypothesis exploration
- Akio Adachi1*corresponding author
- Yuma Inamoto2
- Khanh Quoc Tran1
- Bao Quoc Le1
- Naoya Doi1
- Takaaki Koma1,3*corresponding author
- Masako Nomaguchi1,3*corresponding author
- 1Department of Microbiology, Graduate School of Medical Science, Tokushima University, Tokushima, Japan
- 2Transdisciplinary Program for Medicine, Photonics, and Engineering, Faculty of Science and Technology, Tokushima University, Tokushima, Japan
- 3Division of Interdisciplinary Researches for Medicine and Photonics, Institute of Post-LED Photonics, Tokushima University, Tokushima, Japan
Abstract
Keywords
Introduction: experimental virology
We outline here our studies on human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) as typical examples of experimental virology. Our research team has been extensively challenging the fundamental issues of HIV-1/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) over years. The team originated from Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology at National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in USA (LMM at NIAID), via Institute for Virus Research (currently, Institute for Life and Medical Sciences) at Kyoto University and has now belonged to Department of Microbiology, Graduate School of Medicine at Tokushima University in Japan. Although its members have vastly changed, our main research aim is always to understand the biology and molecular biology of HIV-1 based on molecular genetic methods. As two major achievements in the early phase of our studies, we successfully generated a full-length infectious molecular clone with a complete set of nine intact genes designated pNL4-3 (1, 2) and a viable chimeric molecular clone (SHIV) between a simian immunodeficiency virus from a macaque (SIVmac) and HIV-1 that is infectious for primary macaque cells and macaque individuals (3–5). The two results were ground-breaking and the first in the HIV-1/AIDS research area in the world. From later on, these two accomplishments have become firm foundations for various basic and clinical studies on HIV-1/AIDS (6–9). Our next studies in Kyoto University and Tokushima University could be broadly divided into four categories as shown below. We show them here by citing our published articles chronologically. The research papers closely related to our major scientific concerns include: i) functional analyses on lentiviral accessory proteins (Vif, Vpr, Vpx, Vpu, and Nef) (10–43); ii) functional studies on Gag and Env proteins (44–64); iii) generation and characterization of macaque-tropic HIV-1s (8, 9, 65–73); iv) in vitro experimental studies on viral mutations with virological significance (74–81). In the end of the first part of this article, we wish to emphasize one point as follows. We have cited numerous papers by our group here just to clearly show that we are standard virologists working on virologically important projects with a consistently inductive empirical style for a long time. Evidently, our research strategy has been hypothesis-driven (Figure 1).

In recent years, we have been quite focused on HIV-1 adaptation/evolution research and its related investigations (74–81). The basis for this mindset/approach toward virus research could be our keen scientific interest in viral fundamental property and our sense of mission against pathogenic viruses. Viruses will mutate and diverge to survive their hostile fluxing environments. Naturally, we virologists wish to understand biological and molecular bases for virus changeability as viral foundational characteristics to cope with the virus concerned. Ideally, we can predict how viruses change well in advance before they alter. This is a very critical issue especially in the case of viruses that are pathogenic and highly transmissible among human/animal populations. So far, unfortunately, we can just recognize virus mutations/variations in hindsight.
It may be needless to mention here, the typical approaches used in authentic molecular virology, i.e., building themes/goals individually depending on experimental observations/data and/or published scientific results etc. (Figure 1) will stay highly valid, always being essential not only for modern virology but also for science in general. It is critically important for science in every field to demonstrate, prove, or substantiate all the hypotheses presented. The only drawback there, therefore, is its low-throughput nature. Since a topic/theme in experimental virology is based on the theory/experience of the researcher involved (Figure 1), it is quite likely to be unremarkable, not to be so ingenious. Also, brainstorming the relevant projects is quite limited by the knowledge base of the research team. We today’s virologists have to address or overcome this rather technical issue (but may presently represent an essential matter) to further empower the science and scientific activity of contemporary virology.
Data-driven hypothesis explorative investigation
As emphasized in our previous short articles (82, 83), it is vital for current virology to perform high-throughput, data-driven studies (Figure 1) in order to effectively tackle a wide variety of research themes on virtually all species-derived viruses (84). Completely different from traditional authentic virus studies the way to investigate, data-oriented virological studies are data first (the sheer scale of a variety of data) and set themes/projects that transcend human intelligence (Figure 1). Therefore, the projects presented could be exquisitely unique and could go beyond boundaries. The main issue in those studies probably is how to collect and use the big data, and the data sets (various databases) themselves. For this reason, in the data-driven studies, characteristically analytical and large-throughput methods such as the next generation sequencing, CRISPR-based technologies, single-molecule imaging, spatial biology techniques, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and also various algorithms, inevitably have been utilized. Although we have lately incorporated some notion and methodologies of the computational science into our own studies (55, 59–61, 71, 72, 78, 79), we have not yet done the data science investigation in a proper sense. In the past decade, however, the concept that the data science is crucial for virus research appears to have been widely and deeply accepted in the virology research community and numbers of relevant papers (below, quoted with a particular attention to the articles published in 2025) have been published (85–122) (Editorial articles in Science (https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aee5227) and Nat Rev Microbiol. (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41579-025-01263-x)). Thus, it might not be necessary for us to further highlight this issue here. Nevertheless, as a research group that is deeply ingrained with the importance of virological relevance and significance through a wide variety of experimental studies as stated above, we believe it is worth describing how crucial for today’s virology the hypothesis-explorative data-oriented investigations are. Innovation of classical virology is urgently required in the era of global infectious diseases.
It is essential for the data-oriented virology to specify and refine key data sources (the target data sets/databases) as described above. In a sense, HIV-1/AIDS is the ultimate object of this kind of study. HIV-1 is highly mutable/adaptable not only in infected cells but also in infected human individuals, quite efficiently escaping from human immunity/anti-HIV-1 drugs. So far, unfortunately, the mutations are unpredictable like the cases of other viruses with a highly mutable nature. HIV-1 finally persists in infected humans in an ineradicable manner. The molecular base(s) for this fundamental property of HIV-1 is not yet fully elucidated. It is a pressing practical issue to remove the persistent HIV-1 proviruses within infected humans. As for the AIDS/AIDS-related diseases, numerous factors are believed to be associated with them, whereas definite answers are not yet obtained. Many researchers are actually struggling to solve how HIV-1 behaves in individuals and causes the diseases. In this regard, excellent databases (sequence, structure of viral RNAs/proteins, immunology, cohort, omics and so on) relevant to these issues are available for HIV-1. In addition, plenty of experimental systems have been developed and available. Therefore, some specific experts can readily design data-oriented studies on HIV-1. In fact, a number of related articles have already been published (123–128).
Of course, in reality, many challenges will lie ahead of us. Traditional authentic virologists are apt to be unfamiliar with how to handle huge amounts of data accumulated, whereas data scientists might not be so conscientious about the virological significance of new experimental results obtained from data-driven studies. Thus, it is desirable that researchers on both sides collaborate to yield outstanding results with strong biological relevance. If not, each study group that aims to perform empirical verifications of the data-oriented hypotheses may need to have an expert(s) strong in both research styles within the team. It appears that such human resources are not so common yet in the research field of virology. Skilled experienced researchers who are proficient in data-driven virology as well as experimental virology are definitely required. It may be necessary to actively nurture such experts in an organized systemic way in the field of virology. We may need to incorporate a new “strategic virology” course into the education system at various steps (university, graduate school, and postdoctoral programs). Cultivating next-generation talents represents an urgent issue for us virologists.
Discussion/conclusion
Our conclusion here is quite straightforward and clear-cut, and can be summarized only in one sentence: we virologists need to find or identify research topics (themes) not only by orthodox empirical strategy but also by high throughput data-oriented tactic (Figure 1). We virologists thus can proceed and develop virology truly beneficial to humanity and surrounding environments. It is easier said than done and should be really challenging, though, if we virologists consider the current status of the academic communities and surrounding circumstances. Unfortunately, except for some special experts, data scientists are not familiar with the analytical virus research and we typical virologists are unfamiliar with the data science. Also, the research environment appears to be insufficient for most areas/countries. Therefore, researchers of various expertise have to work in a very close and tight partnership. Meticulous and multifaceted efforts are needed to achieve significant and valuable results in both basic and applied research fields of virology.
Generative AI statement
The author(s) declared that generative AI was not used in the creation of this manuscript.
Any alternative text (alt text) provided alongside figures in this article has been generated by Frontiers with the support of artificial intelligence and reasonable efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, including review by the authors wherever possible. If you identify any issues, please contact us.
Publisher’s note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article, or claim that may be made by its manufacturer, is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.
Footnotes
Edited by: Samuel Ken-En Gan, Kean University-Wenzhou, China
Reviewed by: Guenther Witzany, Independent Researcher, Buermoos, Austria
Statements
- Conflict of interest
The author(s) declared that this work was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
The author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision.
- Funding
The author(s) declared that financial support was received for this work and/or its publication. This work was funded by the Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) (grant 24K1165500 to ND, grant 25K1175800 to TK, and grants 24K0249300 and 25K2263400 to MN).
- Author contributions
AA: Writing – original draft, Supervision, Conceptualization, Writing – review & editing. YI: Conceptualization, Writing – review & editing. KT: Writing – review & editing. BL: Writing – review & editing. ND: Funding acquisition, Writing – review & editing. TK: Visualization, Funding acquisition, Writing – review & editing. MN: Funding acquisition, Supervision, Writing – review & editing, Conceptualization.
- Acknowledgements
We thank Kazuko Yoshida for editorial and administrative work.
References
- 1 Adachi A, Gendelman HE, Koenig S, Folks T, Willey R, Rabson A. Production of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome-associated retrovirus in human and nonhuman cells transfected with an infectious molecular clone. J Virol. (1986) 59: 284–91. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1128/JVI.59.2.284-291.1986
- 2 Adachi A, Ono N, Sakai H, Shibata R, Ogawa K, Kiyomasu T. Generation and characterization of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 mutants. Arch Virol. (1991) 117: 45 – 58. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1007/BF01310491
- 3 Shibata R, Kawamura M, Sakai H, Hayami M, Ishimoto A, Adachi A. Generation of a chimeric human and simian immunodeficiency virus infectious to monkey peripheral blood mononuclear cells. J Virol. (1991) 65: 3514–20. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1128/JVI.65.7.3514-3520.1991
- 4 Sakuragi S, Shibata R, Mukai R, Komatsu T, Fukasawa M, Sakai H. Infection of macaque monkeys with a chimeric human and simian immunodeficiency virus. J Gen Virol. (1992) 73: 2983–7. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1099/0022-1317-73-11-2983
- 5 Shibata R, Sakai H, Kawamura M, Tokunaga K, Adachi A. Early replication block of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 in monkey cells. J Gen Virol. (1995) 76: 2723–30. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1099/0022-1317-76-11-2723
- 6 Nomaguchi M, Doi N, Kamada K, Adachi A. Species barrier of HIV-1 and its jumping by virus engineering. Rev Med Virol. (2008) 18: 261–75. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1002/rmv.576
- 7 Nomaguchi M, Adachi A. Virology as biosystematics: towards understanding the viral infection biology. Front Microbiol. (2010) 1: 2. doi:, PMID: doi:10.3389/fmicb.2010.00002
- 8 Nomaguchi M, Doi N, Fujiwara S, Adachi A. Macaque-tropic HIV-1 derivatives: a novel experimental approach to understand viral replication and evolution in vivo. In: Chang TL, editor. HIV-Host Interactions. InTech, Rijeka, Croatia (2011), ISBN: 978-953-307-442-9. p. pp.325–348. doi: doi:10.5772/23624
- 9 Koma T, Doi N, Le BQ, Kondo T, Adachi A, Nomaguchi M. HIV-1 replication and pathogenicity: lessons from macaque-tropic HIV-1 derivatives. In: Puerta-Guardo H, Talavera GA, Ferraez L, editors. Viral replication cycle: from pathogenesis and immune response to diagnosis and therapy. London, UK: IntechOpen (2023). doi: doi:10.5772/intechopen.1002899
- 10 Ogawa K, Shibata R, Kiyomasu T, Higuchi I, Kishida Y, Ishimoto A. Mutational analysis of the human immunodeficiency virus vpr open reading frame. J Virol. (1989) 63: 4110–14. doi: doi:10.1128/JVI.63.9.4110-4114
- 11 Sakai H, Shibata R, Sakuragi J, Sakuragi S, Kawamura M, Adachi A. Cell-dependent requirement of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 Vif protein for maturation of virus particles. J Virol. (1993) 67: 1663–6. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1128/JVI.67.3.1663-1666
- 12 Kawamura M, Ishizaki T, Ishimoto A, Shioda T, Kitamura T, Adachi A. Growth ability of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 auxiliary gene mutants in primary blood macrophage cultures. J Gen Virol. (1994) 75: 2427–31. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1099/0022-1317-75-9-2427
- 13 Kawamura M, Sakai H, Adachi A. Human imunodeficiency virus Vpx is required for the early phase of replication in peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Microbiol Immunol. (1994) 38: 871–8. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1111/j.1348-0421.1994.tb02140.x
- 14 Tokunaga K, Ishimoto A, Ikuta K, Adachi A. Growth ability of auxiliary gene mutants of human immunodeficiency virus types 1 and 2 in unstimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Arch Virol. (1997) 142: 177–81. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1007/s007050050068
- 15 Tokunaga K, Kojima A, Kurata T, Ikuta K, Akari H, Koyama AH. Enhancement of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 infectivity by Nef is producer cell-dependent. J Gen Virol. (1998) 79: 2447–53. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1099/0022-1317-79-10-2447
- 16 Tokunaga K, Kojima A, Kurata T, Ikuta K, Inubushi R, Shimano R. Producer cell-dependent requirement of the Nef protein for efficient entry of HIV-1 into cells. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. (1998) 250: 565–8. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1006/bbrc.1998.9346
- 17 Tokunaga K, Ikuta K, Adachi A, Matsuda M, Kurata T, Kojima A. The cellular kinase binding motifs (PxxP and RR) in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 Nef protein are dispensable for producer cell-dependent enhancement of viral entry. Virology. (1999) 257: 285–9. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1006/viro.1999.9682
- 18 Fukumori T, Akari H, Iida S, Hata S, Kagawa S, Aida Y. The HIV-1 Vpr displays strong anti-apoptotic activity. FEBS Lett. (1998) 432: 17 – 20. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1016/s0014-5793(98)00824-2
- 19 Fukumori T, Akari H, Yoshida A, Fujita M, Koyama AH, Kagawa S. Regulation of cell cycle and apoptosis by HIV-1 Vpr. Microbes Infect. (2000) 2: 1011–7. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1016/s1286-4579(00)01255-7
- 20 Akari H, Uchiyama T, Fukumori T, Iida S, Koyama AH, Adachi A. Pseudotyping HIV-1 by vesicular stomatitis virus G protein does not reduce the cell-dependent requirement of Vif for optimal infectivity: functional difference between Vif and Nef. J Gen Virol. (1999) 80: 2945–9. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1099/0022-1317-80-11-2945
- 21 Akari H, Arold S, Fukumori T, Okazaki T, Strebel K, Adachi A. Nef-induced major histocompatibility complex class I down-regulation is functionally dissociated from its virion incorporation, enhancement of viral infectivity, and CD4 down-regulation. J Virol. (2000) 74: 2907–12. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1128/jvi.74.6.2907-2912.2000
- 22 Akari H, Bour S, Kao S, Adachi A, Strebel K. The human immunodeficiency virus type 1 accessory protein Vpu induces apoptosis by suppressing the nuclear factor κB-dependent expression of anti-apoptotic factors. J Exp Med. (2001) 194: 1299–311. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1084/jem.194.9.1299
- 23 Akari H, Fujita M, Kao S, Khan MA, Shehu-Xhilaga M, Adachi A. High level expression of human immunodeficiency virus type-1 Vif inhibits viral infectivity by modulating proteolytic processing of the Gag precursor at the p2/NC processing site. J Biol Chem. (2004) 279: 12355–62. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1074/jbc.M312426200
- 24 Tomiyama H, Akari H, Adachi A, Takiguchi M. Different effects of Nef-mediated HLA class I down-regulation on human immunodeficiency virus type 1-specific CD8+-T cell cytolytic activity and cytokine production. J Virol. (2002) 76: 7535–43. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1128/jvi.76.15.7535-7543.2002
- 25 Fujita M, Akari H, Sakurai A, Yoshida A, Chiba T, Tanaka K. Expression of HIV-1 accessory protein Vif is controlled uniquely to be low and optimal by proteasome-degradation. Microbes Infect. (2004) 6: 791–8. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1016/j.micinf.2004.04.011
- 26 Fujita M, Otsuka M, Miyoshi M, Khamsri B, Nomaguchi M, Adachi A. Vpx is critical for reverse transcription of the human immunodeficiency virus type 2 genome in macrophages. J Virol. (2008) 82: 7752–6. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1128/JVI.01003-07
- 27 Fujita M, Otsuka M, Nomaguchi M, Adachi A. Functional region mapping of HIV-2 Vpx protein. Microbes Infect. (2008) 10: 1387–92. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1016/j.micinf.2008.08.005
- 28 Ueno F, Shiota H, Miyaura M, Yoshida A, Sakurai A, Tatsuki J. Vpx and Vpr proteins of HIV-2 up-regulate the viral infectivity by a distinct mechanism in lymphocytic cells. Microbes Infect. (2003) 5: 387–95. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1016/s1286-4579(03)00042-x
- 29 Jere A, Piroozmand A, Tripathy S, Paranjape R, Sakurai A, Fujita M. Generation and characterization of HIV-1 clones chimeric for subtypes B and C nef. Int J Mol Med. (2004) 14: 1087–90. doi:, PMID: doi:10.3892/ijmm.14.6.1087
- 30 Jere A, Fujita M, Adachi A, Nomaguchi M. Role of HIV-1 Nef protein for virus replication in vitro. Microbes Infect. (2010) 12: 65 – 70. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1016/j.micinf.2009.09.009
- 31 Khamsri B, Fujita M, Kamada K, Piroozmand A, Yamashita T, Uchiyama T. Effects of lysine to arginine mutations in HIV-1 Vif on its expression and viral infectivity. Int J Mol Med. (2006) 18: 679–83. doi:, PMID: doi:10.3892/ijmm.18.4.679
- 32 Khamsri B, Murao F, Yoshida A, Sakurai A, Uchiyama T, Shirai H. Comparative study on the structure and cytopathogenic activity of HIV Vpx/Vpr proteins. Microbes Infect. (2006) 8: 10–5. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1016/j.micinf.2005.05.020
- 33 Sakai Y, Doi N, Miyazaki Y, Adachi A, Nomaguchi M. Phylogenetic insights into the functional relationship between primate lentiviral reverse transcriptase and accessory proteins Vpx/Vpr. Front Microbiol. (2016) 7: 1655. doi:, PMID: doi:10.3389/fmicb.2016.01655
- 34 Sakai Y, Miyake A, Doi N, Sasada H, Miyazaki Y, Adachi A. Expression profiles of Vpx/Vpr proteins are co-related with the primate lentiviral lineage. Front Microbiol. (2016) 7: 1211. doi:, PMID: doi:10.3389/fmicb.2016.01211
- 35 Sakurai A, Jere A, Yoshida A, Yamada T, Iwamoto A, Adachi A. Functional analysis of HIV-1 vif genes derived from Japanese long-term nonprogressors and progressors for AIDS. Microbes Infect. (2004) 6: 799 – 805. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1016/j.micinf.2004.04.005
- 36 Yamashita T, Kamada K, Hatcho K, Adachi A, Nomaguchi M. Identification of amino acid residues in HIV-1 Vif critical for binding and exclusion of APOBEC3G/F. Microbes Infect. (2008) 10: 1142–9. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1016/j.micinf.2008.06.003
- 37 Yamashita T, Nomaguchi M, Miyake A, Uchiyama T, Adachi A. Status of APOBEC3G/F in cells and progeny virions modulated by Vif determines HIV-1 infectivity. Microbes Infect. (2010) 12: 166–71. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1016/j.micinf.2009.11.007
- 38 Nomaguchi M, Doi N, Fujiwara S, Fujita M, Adachi A. Site-directed mutagenesis of HIV-1 vpu gene demonstrates two clusters of replication-defective mutants with distinct ability to down-modulate cell surface CD4 and tetherin. Front Microbiol. (2010) 1: 116. doi:, PMID: doi:10.3389/fmicb.2010.00116
- 39 Miyake A, Fujita M, Fujino H, Koga R, Kawamura S, Otsuka M. Poly-proline motif in HIV-2 Vpx is critical for its efficient translation. J Gen Virol. (2014) 95: 179–89. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1099/vir.0.057364-0
- 40 Miyake A, Miyazaki Y, Fujita M, Nomaguchi, Adachi A. Role of poly-proline motif in HIV-2 Vpx expression. Front Microbiol. (2014) 5: 24. doi:, PMID: doi:10.3389/fmicb.2014.00024
- 41 Fujita M, Sakurai A, Yoshida A, Miyaura M, Koyam AH, Sakai K. Amino acid residues 88 and 89 in the central hydrophilic region of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 Vif are critical for viral infectivity by enhancing the steady-state expression of Vif. J Virol. (2003) 77: 1626–32. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1128/jvi.77.2.1626-1632.2003
- 42 Nomaguchi M, Doi N, Adachi A. Virological characterization of HIV-2 vpx gene mutants in various cell systems. Microbes Infect. (2014) 16: 695 – 701. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1016/j.micinf.2014.06.004
- 43 Sakai H, Tokunaga K, Kawamura M, Adachi A. Function of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 Vpu protein in various cell types. J Gen Virol. (1995) 76: 2717–22. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1099/0022-1317-76-11-2717
- 44 Sakuragi J, Sakai H, Kawamura M, Tokunaga K, Ueda S, Adachi A. Generation and characterization of a host cell-dependent gag gene mutant of human immunodeficiency virus type 1. Virology. (1995) 212: 251–4. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1006/viro.1995.1478
- 45 Furuta RA, Shimano R, Ogasawara T, Amano K, Akari H, Hatanaka M. HIV-1 capsid mutants inhibit the replication of wild-type virus at both early and late infection phases. FEBS Lett. (1997) 415: 231–4. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1016/s0014-5793(97)01132-0
- 46 Kawamura M, Shimano R, Inubushi R, Amano K, Ogasawara T, Akari H. Cleavage of Gag precursor is required for early replication phase of HIV-1. FEBS Lett. (1997) 415: 227–30. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1016/s0014-5793(97)01131-9
- 47 Kawamura M, Shimano R, Inubushi R, Amano K, Ogasawara T, Akari H. Functional domain mapping of HIV-1 Gag proteins. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. (1997) 241: 317–20. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1006/bbrc.1997.7814
- 48 Kawamura M, Shimano R, Inubushi R, Akari H, Adachi A. Early function of HIV-1 Gag proteins is cell-dependent. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. (1998) 248: 899 – 903. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1006/bbrc.1998.9065
- 49 Isaka Y, Sato A, Miki S, Kawauchi S, Sakaida H, Hori T. Small amino acid changes in the V3 loop of human immunodeficiency virus type 2 determine the coreceptor usage for CXCR4 and CCR5. Virology. (1999) 264: 237–43. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1006/viro.1999.0006
- 50 Akari H, Fukumori T, Adachi A. Cell-dependent requirement of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 gp41 cytoplasmic tail for Env incorporation into virions. J Virol. (2000) 74: 4891–3. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1128/jvi.74.10.4891-4893.2000
- 51 Akari H, Yoshida A, Fukumori T, Adachi A. Host cell-dependent replication of HIV-1 mutants with deletions in gp41 cytoplasmic tail region is independent of the function of Vif. Microbes Infect. (2000) 2: 1019–23. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1016/s1286-4579(00)01256-9
- 52 Koh KB, Miyaura M, Yoshida A, Sakurai A, Fujita M, Adachi A. Cell-dependent gag mutants of HIV-1 are crucially defective at the stage of uncoating/reverse transcription in non-permissive cells. Microbes Infect. (2000) 2: 1419–23. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1016/s1286-4579(00)01295-8
- 53 Fujita M, Yoshida A, Miyaura M, Sakurai A, Akari H, Koyama AH. Cyclophilin A-independent replication of a human immunodeficiency virus type 1 isolate carrying a small portion of the simian immunodeficiency virus SIVMAC gag capsid region. J Virol. (2001) 75: 10527–31. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1128/JVI.75.21.10527-10531.2001
- 54 Kamada K, Yoshida A, Khamsri B, Piroozmand A, Yamashita T, Uchiyama T. Construction of gag-chimeric viruses between HIV-1 and SIVmac that are capable of productive multi-cycle infection. Microbes Infect. (2006) 8: 1075–81. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1016/j.micinf.2005.11.006
- 55 Yokoyama M, Nomaguchi M, Doi N, Kanda T, Adachi A, Sato H. In silico analysis of HIV-1 Env-gp120 reveals structural bases for viral adaptation in growth-restrictive cells. Front Microbiol. (2016) 7: 110. doi:, PMID: doi:10.3389/fmicb.2016.00110
- 56 Miyazaki Y, Doi N, Koma T, Adachi A, Nomaguchi M. Novel in vitro screening system based on differential scanning fluorimetry to search for small molecules against the disassembly or assembly of HIV-1 capsid protein. Front Microbiol. (2017) 8: 1413. doi:, PMID: doi:10.3389/fmicb.2017.01413
- 57 Miyazaki Y, Miyake A, Doi N, Uchiyama T, Adachi A, Nomaguchi M. Comparison of biochemical properties of HIV-1 and HIV-2 capsid proteins. Front Microbiol. (2017) 8: 1082. doi:, PMID: doi:10.3389/fmicb.2017.01082
- 58 Doi N, Koma T, Adachi A, Nomaguchi M. Role for Gag-CA interdomain linker in primate lentivirus replication. Front Microbiol. (2019) 10: 1831. doi:, PMID: doi:10.3389/fmicb.2019.01831
- 59 Doi N, Yokoyama M, Koma T, Kotani O, Sato H, Adachi A. Concomitant enhancement of HIV-1 replication potential and neutralization-resistance in concert with three adaptive mutations in Env V1/C2/C4 domains. Front Microbiol. (2019) 10: 2. doi:, PMID: doi:10.3389/fmicb.2019.00002
- 60 Koma T, Kotani O, Miyakawa K, Ryo A, Yokoyama M, Doi N. Allosteric regulation of HIV-1 capsid structure for Gag assembly, virion production, and viral infectivity by a disordered interdomain linker. J Virol. (2019) 93: e00381–19. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1128/JVI.00381-19
- 61 Koma T, Yokoyama M, Kotani O, Doi N, Nakanishi N, Okubo H. Species-specific valid ternary interactions of HIV-1 Env-gp120, CD4, and CCR5 as revealed by an adaptive single-amino acid substitution at the V3 loop tip. J Virol. (2021) 95: e02177–20. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1128/JVI.02177-20
- 62 Koma T, Kotani O, Kamba K, Miyakawa K, Morita T, Nakamura H. Positive correlation between structural disorder of the HIV-1 Gag N-terminal segment and progeny virus particle formation. J Virol. (2025) 99: e0088725. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1128/jvi.00887-25
- 63 Koma T, Le BQ, Tran KQ, Doi N, Kndo T, Miyakawa K. The role of HIV-1 Gag and genomic RNA interaction in virion assembly. Front Microbiol. (2025) 16: 1642090. doi:, PMID: doi:10.3389/fmicb.2025.1642090
- 64 Sakai H, Furuta RA, Tokunaga K, Kawamura M, Hatanaka M, Adachi A. Rev-dependency of expression of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 gag and env genes. FEBS Lett. (1995) 365: 141–5. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1016/0014-5793(95)00444-e
- 65 Nomaguchi M, Doi N, Koma T, Adachi A. Complete genome sequences of human immunodeficiency type 1 viruses genetically engineered to be tropic for rhesus macaques. Genome Announc. (2017) 5: e01063–17. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1128/genomeA.01063-17
- 66 Kamada K, Igarashi T, Martin MA, Khamsri B, Hatcho K, Yamashita T. Generation of HIV-1 derivatives that productively infect macaque monkey lymphoid cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. (2006) 103: 16959–64. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1073/pnas.0608289103
- 67 Kamada K, Yamashita T, Hatcho K, Adachi A, Nomaguchi M. Evasion from CypA- and APOBEC-mediated restrictions is insufficient for HIV-1 to efficiently grow in simian cells. Microbes Infect. (2009) 11: 164–71. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1016/j.micinf.2008.11.002
- 68 Igarashi T, Iyengar R, Byrum RA, Buckler-White A, Dewar RL, Buckler CE. An HIV-1 derivative with 7% SIV genetic content is able to establish infections in pig-tailed macaques. J Virol. (2007) 81: 11549–52. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1128/JVI.00960-07
- 69 Doi N, Fujiwara S, Adachi A, Nomaguchi M. Rhesus M1.3S cells suitable for biological evaluation of macaque-tropic HIV/SIV clones. Front Microbiol. (2011) 2: 115. doi:, PMID: doi:10.3389/fmicb.2011.00115
- 70 Doi N, Miura T, Mori H, Sakawaki H, Koma T, Adachi A. CXCR4- and CCR5-tropic HIV-1 clones are both tractable to grow in rhesus macaques. Front Microbiol. (2018) 9: 2510. doi:, PMID: doi:10.3389/fmicb.2018.02510
- 71 Nomaguchi M, Yokoyama M, Kono K, Nakayama EE, Shioda T, Doi N. Generation of rhesus macaque-tropic HIV-1 clones that are resistant to major anti-HIV-1 restriction factors. J Virol. (2013) 87: 11447–61. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1128/JVI.01549-13
- 72 Nomaguchi M, Nakayama EE, Yokoyama M, Doi N, Igarashi T, Shioda T. Distinct combinations of amino acid substitutions in N-terminal domain of Gag-capsid afford HIV-1 resistance to rhesus TRIM5α. Microbes Infect. (2014) 16: 936–44. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1016/j.micinf.2014.08.017
- 73 Fujita M, Yoshida A, Sakurai A, Tatsuki J, Ueno F, Akari H. Susceptibility of HVS-immortalized lymphocytic HSC-F cells to various strains and mutants of HIV/SIV. Int J Mol Med. (2003) 11: 641–4. doi:, PMID: doi:10.3892/ijmm.11.5.641
- 74 Nomaguchi M, Miyake A, Doi N, Fujiwara S, Miyazaki Y, Tsunetsugu-Yokota Y. Natural single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the 3’ region of HIV-1 pol gene modulate viral replication ability. J Virol. (2014) 88: 4145–60. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1128/JVI.01859-13
- 75 Doi N, Koma T, Adachi A, Nomaguchi M. Expression level of HIV-1 Vif can be fluctuated by natural nucleotide variations in the vif -coding and regulatory SA1D2prox sequences of the proviral genome. Front Microbiol. (2019) 10: 2758. doi:, PMID: doi:10.3389/fmicb.2019.02758
- 76 Koma T, Doi N, Takemoto M, Watanabe K, Yamamoto H, Nakashima S. The expression level of HIV-1 Vif is optimized by nucleotide changes in the genomic SA1D2prox region during the viral adaptation process. Viruses. (2021) 13: 2079. doi:, PMID: doi:10.3390/v13102079
- 77 Koma T, Doi N, Le BQ, Kondo T, Ishizue M, Tokaji C. Involvement of a rarely used splicing SD2b site in the regulation of HIV-1 vif mRNA production as revealed by a growth-adaptive mutation. Viruses. (2023) 15: 2424. doi:, PMID: doi:10.3390/v15122424
- 78 Nomaguchi M, Doi N, Fujiwara S, Saito A, Akari H, Nakayama EE. Systemic biological analysis of the mutations in two distinct HIV-1mt genomes occurred during replication in macaque cells. Microbes Infect. (2013) 15: 319–28. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1016/j.micinf.2013.01.005
- 79 Nomaguchi M, Yokoyama M, Kono K, Nakayama EE, Shioda T, Saito A. Gag-CA Q110D mutation elicits TRIM5-independent enhancement of HIV-1mt replication in macaque cells. Microbes Infect. (2013) 15: 56 – 65. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1016/j.micinf.2012.10.013
- 80 Nomaguchi M, Doi N, Sakai Y, Ode H, Iwatani Y, Ueno T. Natural single-nucleotide variations in the HIV-1 genomic SA1prox region can alter viral replication ability by regulating Vif expression levels. J Virol. (2016) 90: 4563–78. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1128/JVI.02939-15
- 81 Nomaguchi M, Doi N, Yoshida T, Koma T, Adachi S, Ode H. Production of HIV-1 vif mRNA is modulated by natural nucleotide variations and SLSA1 RNA structure in SA1D2prox genomic region. Front Microbiol. (2017) 8: 2542. doi:, PMID: doi:10.3389/fmicb.2017.02542
- 82 Adachi A. Frontiers in Virology: an innovative platform for integrative virus research. Front Virol. (2021) 1: 665473. doi: doi:10.3389/fviro.2021.665473
- 83 Adachi A, Koma T, Nomaguchi M. The 3rd anniversary of Frontiers in Virology: aiming to consolidate the virus research. Front Virol. (2024) 4: 1505809. doi: doi:10.3389/fviro.2024.1505809
- 84 Adachi A. Grand challenge in human/animal virology: unseen, smallest replicative entities shape the whole globe. Front Microbiol. (2020) 11: 431. doi:, PMID: doi:10.3389/fmicb.2020.00431
- 85 Kao RR, Haydon DT, Lycett SJ, Murcia PR. Supersize me: how whole-genome sequencing and big data are transforming epidemiology. Trends Microbiol. (2014) 22: 282–91. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1016/j.tim.2014.02.011
- 86 Sharma D, Priyadarshini P, Vrati S. Unraveling the web of viroinformatics: computational tools and databases in virus research. J Virol. (2015) 89: 1489–501. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1128/JVI.02027-14
- 87 Dolan PT, Whitfield ZJ, Andino R. Mapping the evolutionary potential of RNA viruses. Cell Host Microbe. (2018) 23: 435–46. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1016/j.chom.2018.03.012
- 88 Villarreal LP, Witzany G. Editorial: genome invading RNA networks. Front Microbiol. (2018) 9: 581. doi:, PMID: doi:10.3389/fmicb.2018.00581
- 89 Villarreal LP, Witzany G. Social networking of quasi-species consortia drive virolution via persistence. AIMS Microbiol. (2021) 7: 138–62. doi:, PMID: doi:10.3934/microbiol.2021010
- 90 Bos LDJ, Sjoding M, Sinha P, Bhavani SV, Lyons PG, Bewley AF. Longitudinal respiratory subphenotypes in patients with COVID-19-related acute respiratory distress syndrome: results from three observational cohorts. Lancet Respir Med. (2021) 9: 1377–86. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1016/S2213-2600(21)00365-9
- 91 Carlson CJ, Farrell MJ, Grange Z, Han BA, Mollentze N, Phelan AL. The future of zoonotic risk prediction. Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. (2021) 376: 20200358. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1098/rstb.2020.0358
- 92 Blassel L, Tostevin A, Villabona-Arenas CJ, Peeters M, Hueí S, Gascuel O. Using machine learning and big data to explore the drug resistance landscape in HIV. PLoS Comput Biol. (2021) 17: e1008873. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1008873
- 93 Goettsch W, Beerenwinkel N, Deng L, Dölken L, Dutilh BE, Florian Erhard F. ITN-VIROINF: understanding (harmful) virus-host interactions by linking virology and bioinformatics. Viruses. (2021) 13: 766. doi:, PMID: doi:10.3390/v13050766
- 94 Knyazev S, Hughes L, Skums P, Zelikovsky A. Epidemiological data analysis of viral quasispecies in the next-generation sequencing era. Brief Bioinform. (2021) 22: 96 – 108. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1093/bib/bbaa101
- 95 McLeish MJ, Fraile A, Garcıía-Arenal F. Population genomics of plant viruses: the ecology and evolution of virus emergence. Phytopath. (2021) 111: 32–9. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1094/PHYTO-08-20-0355-FI
- 96 Wray J, Whitmore A. Network-driven drug discovery. Methods Mol Biol. (2022) 2390: 177–90. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1007/978-1-0716-1787-8_7
- 97 Markov PV, Ghafari M, Beer M, Lythgoe K, Simmonds P, Stilianakis NI. The evolution of SARS-CoV-2. Nat Rev Microbiol. (2023) 21: 361–79. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1038/s41579-023-00878-2
- 98 Cortes-Azuero O, Lefrancq N, Nikolay B, McKee C, Cappelle J, Hul V. The Genetic diversity of Nipah virus across spatial scales. J Infect Dis. (2024) 230: e1235–44. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1093/infdis/jiae221
- 99 Holmes EC, Krammer F, Goodrum FD. Virology-the next fifty years. Cell. (2024) 187: 5128–45. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1016/j.cell.2024.07.025
- 100 Mifsud JCO, Lytras S, Oliver MR, Toon K, Costa VA, Holmes EC. Mapping glycoprotein structure reveals Flaviviridae evolutionary history. Nature. (2024) 633: 695 – 703. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1038/s41586-024-07899-8
- 101 Prosser DJ, Kent CM, Sullivan JD, Patyk KA, McCool MJ, Torchetti MK. Using an adaptive modeling framework to identify avian influenza spillover risk at the wild-domestic interface. Sci Rep. (2024) 14: 14199. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1038/s41598-024-64912-w
- 102 Dhakal M, Singh BK, Azad RK. Mechanistic models of virus-bacteria co-infections in humans: A systematic review of methods and assumptions. Pathogens. (2025) 14: 830. doi:, PMID: doi:10.3390/pathogens14080830
- 103 Girault V, Stukalov A, Carter-Timofte ME, Hertzog J, Verin M, Austen K. Multi-proteomic profiling of the varicella-zoster virus-host interface reveals host susceptibilities to severe infection. Nat Microbiol. (2025) 10: 2048–72. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1038/s41564-025-02068-7
- 104 Guerrero BV, Steindorf V, Blasco-Aguado R, Mateus L, Cevidanes A, Barandika JF. Assessing the spatio-temporal risk of Aedes-borne arboviral diseases in non-endemic regions: the case of Northern Spain. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. (2025) 19: e0013325. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0013325
- 105 Hao S, Tomic I, Lindsey BB, Jagne YJ, Hoschler K, Meijer A. Integrative mapping of pre-existing influenza immune landscapes predicts vaccine response. J Clin Invest. (2025) 15: e189300. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1172/JCI189300
- 106 Ibrahim B. Dynamics of spindle assembly and position checkpoints: integrating molecular mechanisms with computational models. Comput Struct Biotechnol J. (2025) 27: 321–32. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1016/j.csbj.2024.12.021
- 107 Lammi V, Nakanishi T, Jones SE, Jones SE, Andrews SJ, Karjalainen J. Genome-wide association study of long COVID. Nat Genet. (2025) 57: 1402–17. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1038/s41588-025-02100-w
- 108 Li Y, Wang F, Yang J, Han Z, Chen L, Jiang W. Deep generative optimization of mRNA codon sequences for enhanced mRNA translation and therapeutic efficacy. Nat Commun. (2025) 16: 9957. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1038/s41467-025-64894-x
- 109 Lin TY, Ming-Fang YA, Li-Sheng CS, Hsu CY, Yeh YP, Hsiu-Hsi CT. Artificial intelligence for precision viral surveillance of emerging infectious disease (EID): Data-driven digital twin metaverse-envisioned study. Comput Biol Med. (2025) 196: 110877. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1016/j.compbiomed.2025.110877
- 110 Mandal A, Jain BP, Ghosh DK. High-throughput virtual screening of small molecule modulators against viral proteins. Methods Mol Biol. (2025) 2952: 193 – 218. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1007/978-1-0716-4690-8_11
- 111 Meijers M, Ruchnewitz D, Eberhardt J, Karmakar M, Łuksza M, Lässig M. Concepts and methods for predicting viral evolution. Methods Mol Biol. (2025) 2890: 253–90. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1007/978-1-0716-4326-6_14
- 112 Neuman BW, Smart A, Gilmer O, Smyth RP, Vaas J, Böker N. Giant RNA genomes: Roles of host, translation elongation, genome architecture, and proteome in nidoviruses. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. (2025) 122: e2413675122. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1073/pnas.2413675122
- 113 Pradeesh M, Mani P. Bistability and bifurcations in HIV-1 infection model with non-monotone responses. Sci Rep. (2025) 15: 7265. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1038/s41598-025-91417-x
- 114 Teoh YC, Noor MS, Aghakhani S, Girton J, Hu G, Chowdhury R. Viral escape-inspired framework for structure-guided dual bait protein biosensor design. PLoS Comput Biol. (2025) 21: e1012964. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1371/journal.pcbi.1012964
- 115 Zhao J, Wang H, Wang C, Li F, Chen J, Zhou F. Single-cell data-driven design of armed oncolytic virus to boost cooperative innate-adaptive immunity against cancer. Mol Ther. (2025) 33: 703–22. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1016/j.ymthe.2024.12.017
- 116 Zhao HN, Kvitne KE, Brungs C, Mohan S, Charron-Lamoureux V, Bittremieux W. A resource to empirically establish drug exposure records directly from untargeted metabolomics data. Nat Commun. (2025) 16: 10600. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1038/s41467-025-65993-5
- 117 Zhang Y, Ghahramani N, Li R, Chinchilli VM, Ba DM. Prediction of acute and chronic kidney diseases during the post-covid-19 pandemic with machine learning models: utilizing national electronic health records in the US. EBioMedicine. (2025) 115: 105726. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1016/j.ebiom.2025.105726
- 118 Zhang Y, Han J, Dejian X, Shen W, Li P, Lau JY. Mapping HIV-1 RNA structure, homodimers, long-range interactions and persistent domains by HiCapR. Elife. (2025) 13: RP102550. doi:, PMID: doi:10.7554/eLife.102550
- 119 Zhuang X, Vo V, Moshi MA, Dhede K, Ghani N, Akbar S. Early detection of emerging SARS-CoV-2 Variants from wastewater through genome sequencing and machine learning. Nat Commun. (2025) 16: 6272. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1038/s41467-025-61280-5
- 120 Duy HA, Srisongkram T. Deep generative models for the discovery of antiviral peptides targeting dengue virus: A systematic review. Int J Mol Sci. (2025) 26: 6159. doi:, PMID: doi:10.3390/ijms26136159
- 121 Idisi IO, Oshinubi K, Sewanu VB, Yahaya MM, Olagbami OS, Edogbanya HO. Investigating Mpox strain dynamics using computational and data-driven approaches. Viruses. (2025) 17: 154. doi:, PMID: doi:10.3390/v17020154
- 122 Rocklöv J, Tozan Y, Ramadona A, Sewe MO, Sudre B, Garrido J. Using big data to monitor the introduction and spread of Chikungunya, Europ. Emerg Infect Dis. (2019) 25: 1041–9. doi:, PMID: doi:10.3201/eid2506.180138
- 123 Liang C, Qiao S, Olatosi B, Lyu T, Li X. Emergence and evolution of big data science in HIV research: Bibliometric analysis of federally sponsored studies 2000–2019. Int J Med Inform. (2021) 154: 104558. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1016/j.ijmedinf.2021.104558
- 124 Jakubik J, Feuerriegel S. Data-driven allocation of development aid toward sustainable development goals: evidence from HIV/AIDS. Prod Oper Manage. (2022) 31: 13714. doi: doi:10.1111/poms.13714
- 125 Young LE, Nan Y, Jang E, Stevens R. Digital epidemiological approaches in HIV research: a scoping methodological review. Curr HIV/AIDS Rep. (2023) 20: 470–80. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1007/s11904-023-00673-x
- 126 Ge Q, Lu X, Jiang R, Zhang Y, Zhuang X. Data mining and machine learning in HIV infection risk research: an overview and recommendations. Artif Intell Med. (2024) 153: 102887. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1016/j.artmed.2024
- 127 Almarashi AM. Statistical modelling and forecasting of HIV and anti-retroviral therapy cases by time-series and machine learning models. Sci Rep. (2025) 15: 27033. doi:, PMID: doi:10.1038/s41598-025-10882-6
- 128 Jin R, Zhang L. AI applications in HIV research: advances and future directions. Front Microbiol. (2025) 16: 1541942. doi:, PMID: doi:10.3389/fmicb.2025.1541942
Citation
Adachi, A., et al. (2026). Innovating virology: from empirical verification to hypothesis exploration. Frontiers in Virology, Volume 6. https://doi.org/
- Received
- Accepted
- Published
- Volume
- 6 - 2026
Copyright
Copyright © 2026 Adachi, Inamoto, Tran, Le, Doi, Koma and Nomaguchi.
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
*Correspondence: Akio Adachi; Takaaki Koma; Masako Nomaguchi
Article metrics
- Views
- 0
- Downloads
- 0
- Citations
- 0
- Shares
- 0
