Cellular genetics of host susceptibility and resistance to virus infection.

Viruses are obligate intracellular parasites that rely upon the host cell for activities essential to their life cycles. Gene-trap mutagenesis provides a rapid, genome-wide strategy to identify candidate cellular genes required for virus replication. The candidate genes provide a starting point for mechanistic studies of cellular processes that participate in the virus life cycle and may provide targets for novel antiviral therapies.