Differentiating between viruses and virus species by writing their names correctly

Francisco Murilo Zerbini; Stuart G Siddell; Arcady R Mushegian; Peter J Walker; Elliot J Lefkowitz; Evelien M Adriaenssens; Poliane Alfenas-Zerbini; Bas E Dutilh; María Laura García; Sandra Junglen; Mart Krupovic; Jens H Kuhn; Amy J Lambert; Małgorzata Łobocka; Hanna M Oksanen; David L Robertson; Luisa Rubino; Sead Sabanadzovic; Peter Simmonds; Nobuhiro Suzuki; Koenraad Van Doorslaer; Anne-Mieke Vandamme; Arvind Varsani

doi:10.1007/s00705-021-05323-4

Differentiating between viruses and virus species by writing their names correctly

Arch Virol. 2022 Apr;167(4):1231-1234. doi: 10.1007/s00705-021-05323-4.

Authors

Francisco Murilo Zerbini¹, Stuart G Siddell², Arcady R Mushegian³, Peter J Walker⁴, Elliot J Lefkowitz⁵, Evelien M Adriaenssens⁶, Poliane Alfenas-Zerbini⁷, Bas E Dutilh^{8

9}, María Laura García¹⁰, Sandra Junglen¹¹, Mart Krupovic¹², Jens H Kuhn¹³, Amy J Lambert¹⁴, Małgorzata Łobocka¹⁵, Hanna M Oksanen¹⁶, David L Robertson¹⁷, Luisa Rubino¹⁸, Sead Sabanadzovic¹⁹, Peter Simmonds²⁰, Nobuhiro Suzuki²¹, Koenraad Van Doorslaer²², Anne-Mieke Vandamme^{23

24}, Arvind Varsani²⁵

Affiliations

¹ Dep. de Fitopatologia/BIOAGRO, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, MG, 36570-900, Brazil. zerbini@ufv.br.
² School of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Bristol, University Walk, Bristol, BS8 1TD, UK.
³ Division of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences, National Science Foundation, 2415 Eisenhower Avenue, Alexandria, VA, 22314, USA.
⁴ School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, St Lucia, QLD 4072, Australia.
⁵ Department of Microbiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), BBRB 276, 845 19th St South, Birmingham, AL, 35294-2170, USA.
⁶ Quadram Institute Bioscience, Norwich Research Park, Norwich, NR4 7UQ, UK.
⁷ Departamento de Microbiologia, Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Viçosa, MG, 36570-900, Brazil.
⁸ Institute of Biodiversity, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Cluster of Excellence Balance of the Microverse, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Jena, 07743, Germany.
⁹ Theoretical Biology and Bioinformatics, Science for Life, Utrecht University, Padualaan 8, 3584 CH, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
¹⁰ Instituto de Biotecnología y Biología Molecular, CCT-La Plata, CONICET, UNLP, calles 47 y 115 (1900), La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
¹¹ Institute of Virology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin, corporate member of Free University Berlin, Humboldt-University Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany.
¹² Institut Pasteur, Université de Paris, Archaeal Virology Unit, Paris, 75015, France.
¹³ NIH/NIAID/DCR/Integrated Research Facility at Fort Detrick (IRF-Frederick), B‑8200 Research Plaza, Fort Detrick, Frederick, MD, 21702, USA.
¹⁴ Division of Vector‑Borne Diseases, National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Fort Collins, CO, 80521, USA.
¹⁵ Institute of Biochemistry and Biophysics of the Polish Academy of Sciences, 02-106, Warsaw, Poland.
¹⁶ Molecular and Integrative Biosciences Research Programme, Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, Viikinkaari 9, 00014, Helsinki, Finland.
¹⁷ MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, Sir Michael Stoker Building, 464 Bearsden Road, Glasgow, G61 1QH, UK.
¹⁸ Istituto per la Protezione Sostenibile delle Piante, CNR, UOS Bari, Via Amendola 165/A, 70126, Bari, Italy.
¹⁹ Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, Entomology and Plant Pathology, Mississippi State University, 100 Old Hwy 12 Mail Stop 9775, Mississippi State, MS, 39762, USA.
²⁰ Nuffield Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Peter Medawar Building, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3SY, UK.
²¹ Institute of Plant Science and Resources, Okayama University, Kurashiki, Okayama, 710-0046, Japan.
²² School of Animal and Comparative Biomedical Sciences, Department of Immunobiology, BIO5 Institute, and University of Arizona Cancer Center, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA.
²³ KU Leuven, Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Transplantation, Rega Institute for Medical Research, Clinical and Epidemiological Virology, Institute for the Future, 3000, Leuven, Belgium.
²⁴ Center for Global Health and Tropical Medicine, Unidade de Microbiologia, Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Rua da Junqueira, 100, 1349-008, Lisboa, Portugal.
²⁵ The Biodesign Center for Fundamental and Applied Microbiomics, School of Life Sciences, Center for Evolution and Medicine, Arizona State University, P.O. Box 874701, Tempe, AZ, 85287-4701, USA.

Abstract

Following the results of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) Ratification Vote held in March 2021, a standard two-part "binomial nomenclature" is now the norm for naming virus species. Adoption of the new nomenclature is still in its infancy; thus, it is timely to reiterate the distinction between "virus" and "virus species" and to provide guidelines for naming and writing them correctly.

MeSH terms

DNA Viruses
Viruses* / genetics
Viruses, Unclassified*
Writing

Abstract

MeSH terms

Grants and funding