The new scope of virus taxonomy: partitioning the virosphere into 15 hierarchical ranks

Alexander E. Gorbalenya (1, 2) , M Krupovic (3) , Arcady R. Mushegian (4) , Andrew M Kropinski (5) , Stuart G Siddell (6) , Arvind Varsani (7) , Michael J. Adams (8) , Andrew J. Davison (9) , Bas E Dutilh (10, 11) , Balázs Harrach (12) , Robert L. Harrison (13) , Sandra Junglen (14) , Andrew M. Q. King (15) , Nick J Knowles (15) , Elliot J. Lefkowitz (16) , Max L. Nibert (17) , Luisa Rubino (18) , Sead Sabanadzovic (19) , Hélène Sanfaçon (20) , Peter Simmonds (21) , Peter J Walker (22) , Francisco Murilo Zerbini (23) , Jens H Kuhn (24)

1 Leiden University Medical Center (LUMC)
2 MSU - Lomonosov Moscow State University
3 Virologie des archées - Archaeal Virology
4 NSF - National Science Foundation [Arlington]
5 University of Guelph
6 CellModMed - School of Cellular and Molecular Medicine [Bristol]
7 Biodesign Center for Fundamental and Applied Microbiomics [ASU, Tempe]
8 Chercheur indépendant
9 MRC - University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research
10 Utrecht University [Utrecht]
11 Theoretical Biology & Bioinformatics [Utrecht]
12 AOTI - Institute for Veterinary Medical Research [Budapest]
13 Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory [Beltsville, USA]
14 Charité - UniversitätsMedizin = Charité - University Hospital [Berlin]
15 The Pirbright Institute
16 UAB - University of Alabama at Birmingham [ Birmingham]
17 Blavatnik Institute [Boston]
18 IPSP - Istituto per la Protezione Sostenibile delle Piante [Torino, Italia]
19 Mississippi State University [Mississippi]
20 AAFC - Agriculture and Agri-Food
21 Big Data Institute - Nuffield Department of Medicine [Oxford, UK]
22 School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences [Brisbane]
23 UFV - Universidade Federal de Viçosa = Federal University of Viçosa
24 IRF-Frederick - Integrated Research Facility at Fort Detrick

Virus taxonomy emerged as a discipline in the middle of the twentieth century. Traditionally, classification by virus taxonomists has been focussed on the grouping of relatively closely related viruses. However, during the past few years, the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) has recognized that the taxonomy it develops can be usefully extended to include the basal evolutionary relationships among distantly related viruses. Consequently, the ICTV has changed its Code to allow a 15-rank classification hierarchy that closely aligns with the Linnaean taxonomic system and may accommodate the entire spectrum of genetic divergence in the virosphere. The current taxonomies of three human pathogens, Ebola virus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus and herpes simplex virus 1 are used to illustrate the impact of the expanded rank structure. This new rank hierarchy of virus taxonomy will stimulate further research on virus origins and evolution, and vice versa, and could promote crosstalk with the taxonomies of cellular organisms.

Keywords: Classification and taxonomy; Infectious diseases; Microbial ecology; Taxonomy; Virology

Domains: Life Sciences [q-bio]; Microbiology and Parasitology; Virology

Alexander E. Gorbalenya, M Krupovic, Arcady R. Mushegian, Andrew M Kropinski, Stuart G Siddell, et al.. The new scope of virus taxonomy: partitioning the virosphere into 15 hierarchical ranks. Nature Microbiology, 2020, 5 (5), pp.668-674. ⟨10.1038/s41564-020-0709-x⟩. ⟨pasteur-02557155⟩