'... this book will be of interest to both professional virologists and evolutionists. It may also represent the coming of age of viral evolution.' Eddie Holmes, Society for General Microbiology Quarterly

• Editors' preface; 1. Introduction and guide; Part I. The Impact of Viral Diseases: 2. Classical studies of virus evolution Frank Fenner; 3. The evolution of virus diseases: their emergence, epidemicity and control Neal Nathanson, Kathleen A. McGann and John Wilesmith; Part II. Origins of Viruses and their Genes: 4. Origin of RNA viral genomes; approaching the problem by comparative sequence analysis Alexander E. Borbalenya; 5. Origins of DNA viruses Duncan J. McGeoch and Andrew J. Davison; 6. In search of the origins of viral genes Adrian Gibbs and Paul K. Keese; 7. Cellular sequences in viral genomes Gregor Meyers, Norbert Tautz and Heinz-Jürgen Theil; Part III. Sources of Virus Variation: 8. Molecular mechanisms of point mutations in RNA viruses Bertha-Cecilia Ramíerez, Pascale Barbier, Karin Séron, Anne-Lise Haenni and Françoise Bernardi; 9. Recombination and its evolutionary effect on viruses with RNA genomes Michael M. C. Lai; Part IV. Molecular Interactions of Viruses and their Hosts: 10. Viruses as ligands of eukaryotic cell surface molecules Thomas L. Lentz; 11. The influence of immunity on virus evolution Charles R. M. Bangham; 12. Effect of variation within an HIV-1 envelope region containing neutralizing epitopes and virulence determinants Jaap Goudsmit; Part V. Viruses, Hosts and Populations: 13. Quasi-species: the concept and the word Estaban Domingo, John Holland, Christop Biebricher and Manfred Eigen; 14. The co-evolutionary dynamics of viruses and their hosts Robert M. May; 15. Population genetics of viruses: an introduction A. Moya and F. García-Arenal; 16. Origin and evolution of prokaryotes E. Stackebrandt; 17. Molecular systematics and seed plant phylogeny: a summary of a parsimony analysis of rbcL sequence data Kathleen A. Kron and Mark W. Chase; Part VI. Case Studies of Viral Taxa: Their Systematics and Evolution: 18. Evolution of poxviruses and African swine fever virus R. Blasco; 19. Molecular systematics of the flaviviruses and their relatives Jan Blok and Adrian J. Gibbs; 20. Herpesviridae Andrew J. Davison and Duncan J. McGeoch; 21. Aphthovirus evolution J. Dopazo, M. J. Rodrigo, A. Rodríguez, J. C. Sáiz and F. Sobrino; 22. Evolution of the Bunyaviridae Richard M. Elliott; 23. Evolution of the tobamoviruses Aurora Fraile, Miguel A. Aranda and Fernando García-Arenal; 24. The luteovirus supergroup: rampant recombination and persistent partnerships Mark Gibbs; 25. The evolution of the Reoviridae Wolfgang K. Joklik and Michael R. Roner; 26. Genetic variation and evolution of satellite viruses and satellite RNAs G. Kurath and C. Robaglia; 27. Molecular evolution of the retroid family Marcella A. McClure; 28. Adaptation of members of the Orthomyxoviridae family to transmission by ticks Patricia A. Nuttall, Mary A. Morse, Linda D. Jones and Agustin Portela; 29. The Order Mononegavirales: evolutionary relationships and mechanisms of variation C. R. Pringle; 30. The molecular evolution of the human immunodeficiency viruses Paul M. Sharp, Conal J. Burgess and Beatrice H. Hahn; 31. Molecular evolution of papillomaviruses Marc Van Ranst, Jeffrey B. Kaplan, John P. Sundberg and Robert D. Burk; 32. Molecular systematics of the Potyviridae, the largest plant virus family Colin W. Ward, Georg F. Weiller, Dharma D. Shukla and Adrian Gibbs; 33. Evolution of alphaviruses Scott C. Weaver; 34. Evolution of influenza viruses: rapid evolution and stasis R. G. Webster, W. J. Bean and O. T. Gorman; Part VII. Techniques for Viral Systematics: 35. The RNase A mismatch method for the genetic characterization of viruses C. López-Galíndez, J. M. Rojas and J. Dopazo; 36. Molecular phylogenetic analysis Georg F. Weiller, Marcella A. McClure and Adrian J. Gibbs; Index.