key: cord-0813691-a1n0446a authors: Picknett, Tessa M. title: Virology 50th Anniversary Special Issue: A Publisher's Note date: 2006-01-05 journal: Virology DOI: 10.1016/j.virol.2005.09.013 sha: e1c5806d14fb0cb521e10bbd9b3d3477aaedd08d doc_id: 813691 cord_uid: a1n0446a A Publishers Note introduces this special issue, commemorating Virology's 50th birthday, with a look back at its prestigious history, and the scientific progress that has been made in the field since the launch of the journal in 1954. It provides a list of the top 100 most-cited papers published in the journal to date. and S.E. Luria acted as the main Editors. At that time, it was only 9 years since Salvador Luria and Alfred Hershey had demonstrated that bacteriophages mutate. Just 4 years beforehand, in 1950, André Lwoff, Louis Siminovitch, and Niels Kjeldgaard discovered lysogenic bacteriophage in Bacillus megaterium and coined the term prophage. In 1952, Renato Dulbecco demonstrated that animal viruses can form plaques in a similar way to bacteriophages, and in the same year, Alfred Hershey and Martha Chase showed that DNA was the genetic material of a bacteriophage. It was in this scientific environment that Virology was Fborn_ and became the first general journal in the field. It was a time in which the basic foundations were being laid, and it conjures a reminder that it is ''strange how much you've got to know before you know how little you know'' (Anon). The 1950s and 1960s were the formative years for virology. In the year that Virology was launched, John Enders, Thomas Weller, and Frederick Robbins won the Nobel Prize for their work in growing poliovirus in vitro using human tissue culture, perhaps one of the most significant single events in the development of diagnostic virology. Many of the important achievements in the field were recognized with Nobel prizes, and virology can certainly claim to be ranked extraordinarily highly among scientific disciplines with the most frequent awards, with over 10 prizes to date directly relating to discoveries in virology, plus 2 relating to prions, awarded to 17 individuals. Following George K. Hirst as Editor in Chief was Bill Joklik, who honors us with an article in this issue describing the founding of the American Society for Virology. The present Editor in Chief, Robert Lamb, took over from Bill in 1994 and is therefore only the third to hold this role since the journal began. Over the years, the journal has been supported by its Editors, strengthened by their work and passionate involvement, and broadened and stimulated by their ideas. There are too many whose involvement we have enjoyed over the years to name, but readers may be interested to learn that for the first issue, apart from George K. Hirst Throughout this last half century, scientists and clinicians have submitted their best work to the journal, and we are proud to have published excellent work from scientists from around the world. Indeed, its achievements have only been possible through the intellectual input, hard work, dedication, and support of key figures in the field, who have devoted their time and energy to ensure that Virology continues to be one of the best vehicles for the dissemination of quality research. Their involvement as Editors, Editorial Board members, reviewers, and authors is gratefully acknowledged. Since the launch of Virology in 1954, many outstanding achievements in the field have been made, and the developments in our knowledge have been rapid, only outpaced perhaps by the ability of viruses to mutate, find new hosts, and otherwise present challenges for humankind. Alan Cann gives a brief overview of some of these historic advances in the new edition of his book (Cann, 2005) . Looking back, among the important milestones are the demonstration by Sydney Brenner, François Jacob, and Matthew Meselson that bacteriophage T4 uses host-cell ribosomes to direct virus protein synthesis (1961), the discovery of hepatitis B virus in 1963 (Baruch Blumberg), and Mark Ptashne's isolation and study of the E repressor protein (1967). Howard Temin and David Baltimore's independent discovery of reverse transcriptase in retroviruses was made in 1970, followed 2 years later by Paul Berg's creation of the first recombinant DNA molecules, comprising circular SV40 DNA genomes containing E phage genes and the galactose operon of E. coli, an event that initiated the era of recombinant DNA technology. In 1973, Peter Doherty and Rolf Zinkernagel demonstrated the basis of antigenic recognition of the cellular immune system and the role of the major histocompatibility complex. Bernard Moss and Aaron Shatkin in 1975 showed in reovirus and vaccinia the role of the nucleotide cap at the 5V end of messenger RNA in affecting correct processing during translation, later found to apply to other cellular mRNAs. Also during the 1970s, J. Michael Bishop and Harold Varmus discovered the cellular basis of retroviral oncogenes that in 1989 was rewarded with the Nobel prize. Richard Roberts and, independently, Phillip Sharp discovered introns in adenovirus genes in 1977, and Frederick Sanger and colleagues determined the complete sequence of the bacteriophage AX174 genome also in that year. In 1980, one of the major achievements of the 20th century was celebrated, with the World Health Organization's official declaration of the global eradication of smallpox, still the only instance of the eradication of a human infectious disease to the present day. In 1981, Yorio Hinuma isolated human T-cell leukemia virus, the first human cancer virus to be identified. The next year, Stanley Prusiner demonstrated that the infectious proteins he called prions could cause scrapie, the first step in our understanding of transmissible spongiform encephalopathies. In 1983, Luc Montagnier and Robert Gallo announced the discovery of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the causative agent of AIDS. In 1985, a virus to vaccinate against swine herpes became the first genetically modified organism to be granted a license by the US Department of Agriculture. The following year, Roger Beachy and Rob Fraley published work that significantly improved the understanding of virus resistance (in this case tobacco mosaic virus) in plants, an important goal of plant breeders. 1989 brought the definitive identification of hepatitis C virus, and in 1993, the sequence of the smallpox virus genome was completed. Yuan Chang and Patrick Moore identified human herpesvirus 8, the causative agent of Kaposi's sarcoma, and in 2003, the newly discovered Mimivirus became the largest known virus, with a diameter of 400 nm and a genome of 1.2 Mbp, and in the same year, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) broke out in China, subsequently spreading around the world. Over these 50 years, Virology has published many thousands of papers that have chronicled or been instrumental in enabling these major steps forward. In total, there are presently over 21,500 articles available online, all the way back to Volume 1, Issue 1. Each one has been important in some way. Indeed, the articles published in Virology trace the intellectual evolution of the field. Compiling a list of the Fmost important_ papers, however, is an invidious task. Friendships can falter on such an undertaking, but perhaps, the most objective measure is the number of times a published paper is cited in other publications. This evaluation can of course be criticized for its bias towards papers describing novel techniques or methods. Arguably, older papers dominate because they have had more time in which to have been cited. On the other hand, the citation rates of these articles are also a measure of their persisting importance. On balance, it does represent a value in some way related to how often that paper has been used. With many caveats, the list of the 100 most-cited papers in Virology since records began is presented in Table 1 . Many of the papers have helped or influenced both a great many people and a great many subsequent advances in virology. Among the many ground-breaking and fascinating articles published in Virology over the last 50 years are over 150 from 24 Nobel-prize-winning scientists, including Werner Arber, David Baltimore, J. Michael Bishop, Sydney Brenner, Peter C. Doherty, Renato Dulbecco, Gertrude B. Elion, John F. Enders, D. Carleton Gajdusek, Leland H. Hartwell, Alfred D. Hershey, François Jacob, Neils K. Jerne, Arthur Kornberg, André Lwoff, Time will tell how many will be added in the coming decades. As it enters its sixth decade, Virology continues to build upon this great foundation, publishing novel research, rapid communications and cogent reviews across the spectrum of modern virology. Indeed, last year, Virology was included in the FTop 10_ original research FHottest Journals of the Millennium (so far)_ compiled by Thomson Scientific and published in Science Watch. Indeed, the event celebrated in this issue -Virology's 50th birthday -is testimony to its impact and importance. Aided by the staggering advances in technology made over the last decade in particular, publication is faster than ever (currently just 3-5 weeks before publication of each article online, and 8 -10 weeks in print), and yet it retains its traditional high quality standards. Articles now have unprecedentedly high levels of accessibility and visibility. As further developments take place in the field, as we understand critical issues of virus structure, replication, pathogenicity, and develop more sophisticated tactics to counter and prevent disease, we anticipate that Virology will continue to play a leading role in documenting these important discoveries. We look forward, as the scientific field, technology, and the world continues to change, to Virology remaining one of the most highly respected and the most consistently high quality journal in the field. It will be fascinating to continue the journey of scientific discovery, with Virology as our craft. Origins of dengue type 2 viruses associated with increased pathogenicity in the Structural characteristics of the M2 protein of influenza A viruses: evidence that it forms a tetrameric channel Cellular factors in the transcription and replication of viral RNA genomes: A parallel to DNA-dependent RNA transcription Virology Sequence and analysis of the genome of a baculovirus pathogenic for Lymantria dispar Virology Specific cell surface requirements for the infection of CD4-positive cells by human immunodeficiency virus types 1 and 2 and by simian immunodeficiency virus Influenza A virus lacking the NS1 gene replicates in interferon-deficient systems Properties of a cryptic high-frequency transducing phage in Staphylococcus aureus Virology Replication-deficient vaccinia virus encoding bacteriophage T7 RNA polymerase for transient gene expression in mammalian cells Virology Infectious transcripts and cDNA clones of RNA viruses Virology Large-scale monitoring of host cell gene expression during HIV-1 infection using cDNA microarrays Virology Virus-like particles of bovine papillomavirus type 4 in prophylactic and therapeutic immunization Virology The natural history of HIV-1 infection: virus load and virus phenotype independent determinants of clinical course? Molecular evolution and distribution of dengue viruses type 1 and 2 in nature Natural Simian virus 40 strains are present in human choroid plexus and ependymoma tumors Initiation of human cytomegalovirus infection requires initial interaction with cell surface heparan sulfate Changes in growth properties on passage in tissue culture of viruses derived from infectious molecular clones of HIV-1(LAI), HIV-1(MAL), and HIV-1 Characterization of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 mutants with decreased sensitivity to proteinase inhibitor Full genome sequences of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 subtypes G and A/G intersubtype recombinants Virology Cucumber mosaic virus 3a protein potentiates cell-to-cell trafficking of CMV RNA in tobacco plants Complete sequence of the citrus tristeza virus RNA genome Virology Analysis of the complete genome of smallpox variola major virus strain Bangladesh -1975 Molecular cloning and sequencing of the Mexico isolate The polypeptides of adenovirus. I. Evidence for multiple protein components in the virion and a comparison of types 2, 7A Reactivation of Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus infection from latency by expression of the ORF 50 transactivator, a homolog of the EBV R protein The complete genomic sequence of the modified vaccinia Ankara strain: comparison with other orthopoxviruses Analysis of the complete nucleotide sequence of African swine fever virus Virology Molecular characterization of porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus, a member of the arterivirus group Virology Factors underlying spontaneous inactivation and susceptibility to neutralization of human immunodeficiency virus Myxoma virus expresses a secreted protein with homology to the tumor necrosis factor receptor gene family that contributes to viral virulence Expression of vaccinia recombinant HPV 16 L1 and L2 ORF proteins in epithelial cells is sufficient for assembly of HPV virion-like particles Plaque assay techniques for murine leukemia viruses Virology New insights into the mechanisms of RNA recombination Virology Epitope exposure on functional, oligomeric HIV-1 gp41 molecules Virology The remarkable coding strategy of Borna disease virus: a new member of the nonsegmented negative strand RNA viruses Virology The T1/35kDa family of poxvirus-secreted proteins bind chemokines and modulate leukocyte influx into virus-infected tissues Characterization of proteins encoded by ORFs 2 to 7 of Lelystad virus Virology Molecular diversity of the Lyssavirus genus Virology Molecular cloning and nucleotide sequence of Pestivirus genome, noncytopathic bovine viral diarrhea virus strain SD-1 Evidence that the herpes simplex virus immediate early protein ICP27 acts post-transcriptionally during infection to regulate gene expression Virology Tomato yellow leaf curl virus: a whitefly-transmitted geminivirus with a single genomic component Virology The complete sequence (22 kb) of murine coronavirus gene 1 encoding the putative proteases and RNA polymerase Replicon-helper systems from attenuated Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus: expression of heterologous genes in vitro and immunization against heterologous pathogens in vivo Virology Pestivirus translation initiation occurs by internal ribosome entry Membrane rearrangement and vesicle induction by recombinant poliovirus 2C and 2BC in human cells Virology CD4-independent infection by HIV-2 (ROD/B): use of the 7-transmembrane receptors CXCR-4, CCR-3, and V28 for entry Virology Binding of the influenza virus NS1 protein to double-stranded RNA inhibits the activation of the protein kinase that phosphorylates the eIF-2 translation initiation factor Virology HIV-1 coreceptor activity of CCR5 and its inhibition by chemokines: Independence from G protein signaling and importance of coreceptor downmodulation Structural requirements for initiation of translation by internal ribosome entry within genome-length hepatitis C virus RNA Virology Region E3 of adenovirus: a cassette of genes involved in host immunosurveillance and virus -cell interactions Early events in Epstein -Barr virus infection of human B lymphocytes Interferon action in triply deficient mice reveals the existence of alternative antiviral pathways Nuclear domain 10 as preexisting potential replication start sites of herpes simplex virus type 1 Distinct effects in primary macrophages and lymphocytes of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 accessory genes vpr, vpu, and nef: Mutational analysis of a primary HIV-1 isolate Principles of Molecular Virology