Abstract
The first congress on Viruses of Microbes took place at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, France, on 21–25 June 2010. The advances in genomics and metagenomics reported at this meeting reveal striking and unexpected complexity of the virus world. Viruses, in particular viruses that infect prokaryotes and unicellular eukaryotes, are emerging as the most abundant class of biological entities on earth and a major evolutionary and geochemical force.
Financial & competing interests disclosure
The author’s research is supported by the intramural funds of the US Department of Health and Human Services (National Library of Medicine, NIH). The author has no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.
No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.