Dear Colleagues,

Infectious diseases are disorders caused by pathogens, such as bacteria, viruses, fungi or parasites, and pose a serious threat to humans, animals, and plants. Pathogens can interact with the host to suppress or evade the host immune system in order to establish and disseminate infections.

Unique genome features contribute largely to the events of host–pathogen interactions, governing the virulence level of the pathogens and the infection severity of the host. With the advancement of NGS and nanopore sequencings, it is now highly cost-effective to pursue genomic and transcriptomic studies. Recent research has shown that host–pathogen interactions can be bi-directionally modulated by small RNAs that come from unique genome loci. Under the current COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a surge in development of SARS-CoV-2 detection methods based on studying the phylogenomics and mutations of viral genomes.

We invite researchers to contribute original research articles and reviews focused on different genomic aspects of 1) infectious diseases, and ii) host–pathogen interactions.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following:

- Genomics and transcriptomics;
- Phylogenetics and evolution;
- Small RNA regulations;
- RNA biology (e.g., dual-RNA-seq);
- Molecular pathogenesis;
- Molecular detection.

Prof. Dr. Akira Ishihama
Dr. Franklin W.N. Chow
Guest Editors
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Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2021.
Special issue eidtor from IJMS: liana.duan@mdpi.com