Unlike the human genome that comprises mostly noncoding and regulatory sequences, viruses have evolved under the constraints of maintaining a small genome size while expanding the efficiency of their coding and regulatory sequences. As a result, viruses use strategies of transcription and translation in which one or more of the steps in the conventional gene–protein production line are altered. These alternative strategies of viral gene expression (also known as gene recoding) can be uniquely brought about by dedicated viral enzymes or by co-opting host factors (known as host dependencies). Targeting these unique enzymatic activities and host factors exposes vulnerabilities of a virus and provides a paradigm for the design of novel antiviral therapies. In this Review, we describe the types and mechanisms of unconventional gene and protein expression in viruses, and provide a perspective on how future basic mechanistic work could inform translational efforts that are aimed at viral eradication.

与主要由非编码和调控序列组成的人类基因组不同，病毒在保持较小的基因组大小同时扩大其编码和调控序列的效率的限制下进化。结果，病毒使用转录和翻译策略，其中改变了传统基因-蛋白质生产线中的一个或多个步骤。这些病毒基因表达的替代策略（也称为基因重新编码）可以通过专用病毒酶或通过选择宿主因素（称为宿主依赖性）独特地实现。针对这些独特的酶活性和宿主因素暴露了病毒的脆弱性，并为设计新型抗病毒疗法提供了范例。在这篇评论中，