[An intimate look at the viral replication cycle through ribosome profiling].

Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) techniques have revolutionized most biomedical research fields over the past decade by allowing a broader vision on biological processes that occur at the molecular level. Among these, ribosome profiling or footprinting is a powerful tool to study mRNA translation in a transcriptome-wide manner. Ribosome profiling has been used to study the impact of translational control of gene expression under many different cellular conditions including viral infections. Indeed, translation is a critical step during the viral replication cycle in which the infected cell is embezzled to produce viral proteins. Ribosome profiling tools can provide new insights on viral translation by monitoring ribosome binding to viral and cellular RNAs with a high definition during the time course of an infection. Here, we describe the potential uses of ribosome profiling for the understanding of viral translational control and the impact of viral infection on host gene expression. We also discuss the main limitations and biases related to the technique that need to be taken into account for its use.