Challenges in RNA virus bioinformatics

Associate Editor: Jonathan Wren Motivation: Computer-assisted studies of structure, function and evo-lution of viruses remains a neglected area of research. The attention of bioinformaticians to this interesting and challenging field is far from commensurate with its medical and biotechnological importance. It is telling that out of4200 talks held at ISMB 2013, the largest interna-tional bioinformatics conference, only one presentation explicitly dealt with viruses. In contrast to many broad, established and well