A Systems Pathway View of Cytomegalovirus Infection

This chapter discusses the use of systems biology towards understanding the combinatorially complex set of molecular interactions that underpin the infection process by CMV. A hallmark of systems biology is the elucidation of pathways rather than single gene or protein activities. This generally involves the use of bioinformatics and computational modelling to analyse unbiased high throughput data such as those derived from whole genome sequencing, genome-wide transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics. The emerging studies in the area of CMV systems biology have to date underscored the requirement for host-dependencies on transcription factor networks, cell signalling, metabolism and cellular trafficking. Here we consider at the systems pathway level the importance of host-dependency and host-protection pathways in regulating the CMV transcription-replication cycle.