VirHostNet: a knowledge base for the management and the analysis of proteome-wide virus–host interaction networks

Navratil, Vincent; de Chassey, Benoît; Meyniel, Laurène; Delmotte, Stéphane; Gautier, Christian; André, Patrice; Lotteau, Vincent; Rabourdin-Combe, Chantal

continuously from data published in scientific journals. The update of public databases will occur at least once or twice a year in order to keep the data as current as possible. In the next future, integration of other host species, such as mammals or insects, is envisaged. This will facilitate comparison of interaction profiles among different hosts and thus may help to elucidate the molecular basis underlying the ability of some viruses to overcome the inter-species barrier. Efforts will be made to facilitate data exchange with other generalist databases (MINT, INTACT) and to add Web2.0 capabilities to the Web interface (save, comparison and analysis of user customized networks). Altogether, VirHostNet provides an entry gate for proteome wide analysis of the virus-host system and will greatly help scientists willing to take advantage of functional genomic and systems biology to decipher viral infection, evolution and pathogenesis mechanisms and/or to rationalize anti-viral drug design.