MED-Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development, Instituto de Investigação e Formação Avançada, Universidade de Évora, Pólo da Mitra, Ap. 94, 7006-554 Évora, Portugal.
MED-Mediterranean Institute for Agriculture, Environment and Development & Departamento de Fitotecnia, Escola de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade de Évora, Pólo da Mitra, Ap. 94, 7006-554 Évora, Portugal.
Viruses. 2021 Oct 14;13(10):2073. doi: 10.3390/v13102073.
Viruses may cause devastating diseases in several organisms; however, they are simple systems that can be manipulated to be beneficial and useful for many purposes in different areas. In medicine, viruses have been used for a long time in vaccines and are now being used as vectors to carry materials for the treatment of diseases, such as cancer, being able to target specific cells. In agriculture, viruses are being studied to introduce desirable characteristics in plants or render resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses. Viruses have been exploited in nanotechnology for the deposition of specific metals and have been shown to be of great benefit to nanomaterial production. They can also be used for different applications in pharmacology, cosmetics, electronics, and other industries. Thus, viruses are no longer only seen as enemies. They have shown enormous potential, covering several important areas in our lives, and they are making our lives easier and better. Although viruses have already proven their potential, there is still a long road ahead. This prompt us to propose this theme in the Special Issue "The application of viruses to biotechnology". We believe that the articles gathered here highlight recent significant advances in the use of viruses in several fields, contributing to the current knowledge on virus applications.
病毒可能会在几种生物体中引起毁灭性的疾病；然而，它们是简单的系统，可以被操纵，以在不同领域的许多目的中变得有益和有用。在医学中，病毒在疫苗中已经使用了很长时间，现在正被用作载体，携带用于治疗疾病的材料，如癌症，能够靶向特定的细胞。在农业中，正在研究病毒以在植物中引入理想的特性或对生物和非生物胁迫产生抗性。病毒已被用于纳米技术中的特定金属沉积，并已被证明对纳米材料的生产有很大的好处。它们还可以用于药理学、化妆品、电子学和其他行业的不同应用。因此，病毒不再仅仅被视为敌人。它们显示出了巨大的潜力，涵盖了我们生活中的几个重要领域，使我们的生活更轻松、更美好。尽管病毒已经证明了它们的潜力，但仍有很长的路要走。这促使我们在特刊“病毒在生物技术中的应用”中提出这个主题。我们相信，这里收集的文章突出了病毒在几个领域的最新重要进展，为病毒应用的现有知识做出了贡献。
