Contribution of yeast models to virus research

ABSTRACT: Time and again, yeast has proven to be a vital model system to understand various crucial basic biology questions. Studies related to viruses are no exception to this. This simple eukaryotic organism is an invaluable model for studying fundamental cellular processes altered in the host cell due to viral infection or expression of viral proteins. Mechanisms of infection of several RNA and relatively few DNA viruses have been studied in yeast to date. Yeast is used for studying several aspects related to the replication of a virus, such as localization of viral proteins, interaction with host proteins, cellular effects on the host, etc. The development of novel techniques based on high-throughput analysis of libraries, availability of toolboxes for genetic manipulation, and a compact genome makes yeast a good choice for such studies. In this review, we provide an overview of the studies that have used yeast as a model system and have advanced our understanding of several important viruses. KEY POINTS: • Yeast, a simple eukaryote, is an important model organism for studies related to viruses. • Several aspects of both DNA and RNA viruses of plants and animals are investigated using the yeast model. • Apart from the insights obtained on virus biology, yeast is also extensively used for antiviral development.