K. Tomonaga

The absence of superinfection exclusion of Borna disease virus 2 maintains genomic polymorphisms in persistently infected cells

This study identifies genetic variations in BoDV-2 that enhance its growth and reveals its ability to maintain genomic polymorphisms in infected cells by lacking superinfection exclusion.

Genome-scale CRISPR-Cas9 screen identifies novel host factors as potential therapeutic targets for SARS-CoV-2 infection.

The paper identifies TRIM28, TRIM33, EHMT1, and EHMT2 as novel host factors involved in SARS-CoV-2 infection and shows that EHMT1/2 inhibition reduces viral growth and disease severity.

Contact-number-driven virus evolution: a multi-level modeling framework for the evolution of acute or persistent RNA virus infection

This study models virus evolution under different contact histories, finding that high-contact environments favor acute infections while low-contact environments favor persistent infections.

Ban on wild bird importation accelerated the spread of global viral outbreaks in parrots.

This study shows that a ban on wild bird imports in the EU increased captive parrot trade, facilitating the global spread of PaBV-4, a lethal parrot virus.

The hidden diversity of ancient bornaviral sequences from X and P genes in vertebrate genomes

This study identifies hidden endogenous bornavirus-like elements (EBLs) from orthobornaviral X and P genes in mammalian genomes, revealing their expression as fusion transcripts with ZNF451.

The mechanism underlying the organization of Borna disease virus inclusion bodies is unique among mononegaviruses

This study investigates the unique mechanism of Borna disease virus inclusion body formation through liquid-liquid phase separation and RNA interactions.

Hidden viral sequences in public sequencing data and warning for future emerging diseases

The paper identifies 900 hidden viral infections and six nearly complete viral genomes in public sequencing data, highlighting potential public health risks from zoonotic viruses.

One hundred million years history of bornavirus infections hidden in vertebrate genomes

This study identifies endogenous bornavirus-like elements in vertebrate genomes to trace a 100 million year history of bornavirus infections, revealing lineage changes and host coexistence.

Identification of novel avian and mammalian deltaviruses provides new insights into deltavirus evolution

This study identifies novel deltaviruses in birds and mammals, revealing evolutionary relationships and transmission dynamics of deltaviruses.