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Review
. 2021 May 21:12:647730.
doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.647730. eCollection 2021.

Harmless or Threatening? Interpreting the Results of Molecular Diagnosis in the Context of Virus-Host Relationships

Fábio A Abade Dos Santos  1   2 , Sara J Portela  3 , Teresa Nogueira  1   4 , Carina L Carvalho  1 , Rita de Sousa  5 , Margarida D Duarte  1   2
Affiliations
Review

Harmless or Threatening? Interpreting the Results of Molecular Diagnosis in the Context of Virus-Host Relationships

Fábio A Abade Dos Santos et al. Front Microbiol. .

Abstract

Molecular methods, established in the 1980s, expanded and delivered tools for the detection of vestigial quantities of nucleic acids in biological samples. Nucleotide sequencing of these molecules reveals the identity of the organism it belongs to. However, the implications of such detection are often misinterpreted as pathogenic, even in the absence of corroborating clinical evidence. This is particularly significant in the field of virology where the concepts of commensalism, and other benign or neutral relationships, are still very new. In this manuscript, we review some fundamental microbiological concepts including commensalism, mutualism, pathogenicity, and infection, giving special emphasis to their application in virology, in order to clarify the difference between detection and infection. We also propose a system for the correct attribution of terminology in this context.

Keywords: commensalism; detection; host-pathogen; infection; molecular biology interpretation; mutualism.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Schematic representation of scientific process to classification of virus-host interaction.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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