1. Nature and multiplication of viruses

The world of viruses. Strict parasitism, multiplication and transmission. Viral disease and the iceberg concept. Viral diversity and virome. The viral particle: dimensions, chemical composition, morphology and nomenclature. Functions of the capsid; stability and recognition. Chemical composition, structure and organization of the viral genome: structural and non-structural genes. The polarity of the nucleic acid. The viral cycle: extra- and intracellular phases. Viral multiplication: productive and non-productive infections. Sequential expression of viral genes. Viruses, mobile genetic elements and living things.

2. Origins of Virology

The hypotheses about the maintenance of life and spontaneous generation. Pasteur's work. Microscopic infectious agents and Koch postulates. The nineteenth century: the discovery of viruses. The tobacco mosaic: the concept of filterable poison. Discovery of animal viruses. 20th century: chemical, structural and genetic characterization of viruses. Relevant facts in the history of Virology. Smallpox eradication and the risk of re-emergence. Clinical and biotechnological aspects of Virology. Bioterrorism.

3. Structure of viral particles

Morphology of viral particles. Architectural study of viral particles: electron microscopy and three-dimensional reconstructions. X-ray diffraction: resolution level. Molecular architecture in helical and icosahedral symmetries. Trans-membrane proteins in viral envelopes. Receptor- binding sites. Viral antigens and epitopes B and T. Neutralization and evasion of neutralization. Genetic and epitopic variability.

4. Viral genetics and viral genomes

Diversity of viral genomes. Principle of economics and complexity of viral genomes; gene overlapping. Segmented and split genomes. Information encoding the viral genome. Viral genome types and gene expression and replication strategies; time-regulation strategies. The infectious clone. Principles of reverse genetics. Defective viruses.

5. Methods in Virology

Obtaining viral particles. Cell culture at small and medium scale. Purification. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of viral particles. Detection of viral components and applications in diagnostic methodology. The Virology laboratory: areas and distribution. Biological safety. Containment levels: P1 to P4. Air treatment. Effluent treatment.

6. Principles of viral taxonomy

First virus classifications: Baltimore classification of animal viruses. The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses and the classification system. Viral properties used in taxonomy. Families of animal viruses and unclassified viruses. Nomenclature changes. Main human pathogens and their diseases.

7. Viral multiplication

Cell recognition. Nature and function of receptors. Internalization. Disassembly. Biosynthetic shutdown. Stimulation of cellular functions: papovaviruses and adenoviruses. RNA, DNA and viral protein synthesis: time sequences. Cytopathic effects. Exit of viral particles with and without lysis. Apoptosis. Cell transformation into RNA viruses: cellular oncogenes; activation and transduction. Cell transformation into DNA viruses: oncogenes and viral oncoproteins. Viral protein processing. Antiviral drug targets. Interfering RNA.

8. Pathogenesis of viral infections

"Good" viruses. Virus-host coexistence. Asymptomatic infections. Characteristics of viral infections. Entrance gates. Transmission routes: horizontal and vertical. Localized and systemic infections. Dissemination. Viremia. Nerve transmission. Target tissues: tropism. Acute and persistent infections. Dissemination. Viremia. Nerve transmission. Target tissues: tropism. Acute and persistent infections. Latent infections. Viral and non-viral factors influencing pathogenesis. Virulence. Evasion of the immune responseby viruses. Immunopathology.

9. Response to viral infections and vaccines

Types of vaccines; attenuated and inactivated. Molecular basis of attenuation. New generation vaccines. Recombinant vaccines and synthetic peptides. Vaccination with nucleic acids. New vectors in vaccines. SARS-CoV-2 vaccines. Herd immunity. Innate and adaptive immune response. Sentinel cells, complement, inflammation, interferons. Communication between innate and adaptive response. Adaptive immune response: humoral and cellular. The importance of the antiviral cellular immune response. The bacterial immune system CRISPR / Cas.

10. Origin and evolution of viruses

Origin of viruses; regressive theories and those in favor of a cellular origin. Mechanisms for the generation of diversity. Mutation frequencies and relative abundance of mutants. Fixation of mutations. Viral replicases and fidelity of copy. Variability and evolution in RNA and retrovirus viruses. Viral quasi-species. Evolution and evolutionary potential. Darwinian and non-Darwinian selection of mutations. Foundational effects and bottlenecks.

11. New viral diseases and emerging viruses

Emergence of new viral diseases. Host jump and viral reservoirs. Viral emergency and re-emergence. Determining environmental, social and technological factors. Importance of arthropod vectors. The human species as a terminal host. New viruses and emerging viral diseases. Hemorrhagic fevers. Ebola virus and human immunodeficiency virus. The continuous re-emergence of the influenza virus.

12. The virome

The concept of virome and methods for its study. Viruses in the planet. The iceberg concept and the Global Virome Project. Acquisition of viruses in humans. Horizontal transmission of the viruses. The horizontal transmission of phenotypes. The human holobiont. The role of the virome in biology of the holobiont, in health and disease. Virome and sexuality.

13. Peculiar infectious agents

Prions: Infectious proteins. Development of the concept of prion. The amyloid. PrPc synthesis and processing. PrPsc formation and prion propagation. Spongiform encephalopathies: inheritance and infection. Phenotypic diversity of prions; the strains. "Scrapie" and bovine spongiform encephalopathy. Interspecific barriers. Human spongiform encephalopathies: Kuru, Creutzfeldt-Jakob syndrome and hereditary diseases. Prions in yeast. Viroids: structure and constancy of domains. Possible mechanisms of pathogenesis. The Satellites. The delta hepatitis virus. Virophages.

14. Bacteriophages

Use of bacteriophages in molecular genetics and biotechnology. The "phage display". The generation of antibodies without immunization and the search for new ligands. Directed molecular evolution. Drug selection systems.

15. Artificial viruses

Viruses as new manipulable nanomaterials. Viral gene therapy; important features and biological risks. Gene therapy products on the market. Artificial viruses as alternatives to viral gene therapy. Kinds of artificial viruses and biomolecules used. Modular strategies. Selection of virus-inspired functional domains. Examples and applications of artificial viruses.