family Parvoviridae

A set of proposals to rationalize and extend the taxonomy of the family Parvoviridae is currently under review by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV). Viruses in this family infect a wide range of hosts, as reflected by the longstanding division into two subfamilies: the Parvov...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Archives of virology 2014-05, Vol.159 (5), p.1239-1247
Main Authors: Cotmore, Susan F, Agbandje-McKenna, Mavis, Chiorini, John A, Mukha, Dmitry V, Pintel, David J, Qiu, Jianming, Soderlund-Venermo, Maria, Tattersall, Peter, Tijssen, Peter, Gatherer, Derek, Davison, Andrew J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Arthropoda
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Biomedicine
Densovirinae
Densovirus
Genome, Viral
host range
hosts
Immunology
Infectious Diseases
Medical Microbiology
Medicine
new species
nucleotide sequences
Parvoviridae
Parvoviridae - classification
Parvoviridae - genetics
Parvovirinae
Parvovirus
Phylogenetics
Phylogeny
Proposals
Proteins
sequence homology
Species Specificity
Taxonomy
Virology
Virology Division News
Viruses
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:A set of proposals to rationalize and extend the taxonomy of the family Parvoviridae is currently under review by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV). Viruses in this family infect a wide range of hosts, as reflected by the longstanding division into two subfamilies: the Parvovirinae, which contains viruses that infect vertebrate hosts, and the Densovirinae, encompassing viruses that infect arthropod hosts. Using a modified definition for classification into the family that no longer demands isolation as long as the biological context is strong, but does require a near-complete DNA sequence, 134 new viruses and virus variants were identified. The proposals introduce new species and genera into both subfamilies, resolve one misclassified species, and improve taxonomic clarity by employing a series of systematic changes. These include identifying a precise level of sequence similarity required for viruses to belong to the same genus and decreasing the level of sequence similarity required for viruses to belong to the same species. These steps will facilitate recognition of the major phylogenetic branches within genera and eliminate the confusion caused by the near-identity of species and viruses. Changes to taxon nomenclature will establish numbered, non-Latinized binomial names for species, indicating genus affiliation and host range rather than recapitulating virus names. Also, affixes will be included in the names of genera to clarify subfamily affiliation and reduce the ambiguity that results from the vernacular use of “parvovirus” and “densovirus” to denote multiple taxon levels.
ISSN:0304-8608
1432-8798
DOI:10.1007/s00705-013-1914-1