Global structure of the virus world and megataxonomy of viruses

Dr. Koonin graduated from Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia and received his Ph.D. in Molecular Biology from the same University in 1983. He has been working in the fields of Computational Biology and Evolutionary Genomics since 1984. Dr. Koonin moved to the US in 1991, first, as a Visiting Scientist, and then, since 1996, as a Senior Investigator at the National Center for Biotechnology Information, National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD. Dr. Koonin's group performs research in many areas of evolutionary genomics.

Viruses and virus-like mobile genetic elements are ubiquitous parasites (and sometime symbionts) of all cellular life forms and the most abundant biological entities on earth. The recent, unprecedented advances of comparative genomics and metagenomics have led to the discovery  of diverse novel groups of viruses and provide for a vastly improved understanding of the evolutionary relationships within the virosphere. Arguably, we are approaching the point when the global architecture of the virus world can be outlined in its entirety, and the key evolutionary events in each of its domains can be reconstructed.

I will present such an outline of the global organization of the virus world and the corresponding megataxonomy proposals that have been recently approved by the International Committee for Taxonomy of Viruses. 

This seminar will NOT be livestreamed and recorded.