Significance of Artificial Intelligence in the Study of Virus–Host Cell Interactions

Abstract

A highly critical event in a virus’s life cycle is successfully entering a given host. This process begins when a viral glycoprotein interacts with a target cell receptor, which provides the molecular basis for target virus–host cell interactions for novel drug discovery. Over the years, extensive research has been carried out in the field of virus–host cell interaction, generating a massive number of genetic and molecular data sources. These datasets are an asset for predicting virus–host interactions at the molecular level using machine learning (ML), a subset of artificial intelligence (AI). In this direction, ML tools are now being applied to recognize patterns in these massive datasets to predict critical interactions between virus and host cells at the protein–protein and protein–sugar levels, as well as to perform transcriptional and translational analysis. On the other end, deep learning (DL) algorithms—a subfield of ML—can extract high-level features from very large datasets to recognize the hidden patterns within genomic sequences and images to develop models for rapid drug discovery predictions that address pathogenic viruses displaying heightened affinity for receptor docking and enhanced cell entry. ML and DL are pivotal forces, driving innovation with their ability to perform analysis of enormous datasets in a highly efficient, cost-effective, accurate, and high-throughput manner. This review focuses on the complexity of virus–host cell interactions at the molecular level in light of the current advances of ML and AI in viral pathogenesis to improve new treatments and prevention strategies.