ICTV virus taxonomy profile: Picobirnaviridae

Abstract

Picobirnaviridae is a family of viruses with bi-segmented (rarely unsegmented) dsRNA genomes comprising about 4.4 kbp in total, with small, non-enveloped spherical virions. The family includes one genus (Picobirnavirus) grouping three genetic clusters with high sequence variability, two defined by viruses infecting vertebrates and a third with viruses found in invertebrates. This is a summary of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) Report on the taxonomy of Picobirnaviridae, which is available at www.ictv.global/report/picobirnaviridae.

Keywords: ICTV Report; Picobirnaviridae; taxonomy.

Fig. 1.

Structure of a picobirnavirus particle. (Left) Surface rendering from a three-dimensional reconstruction viewed down a slightly mis-oriented fivefold axis. Note the presence of 60 dimeric protrusions (courtesy of J. Lepault). (Middle) Diagram representing a triacontahedron, a convex polyhedron comprising 30 rhombic faces or diamond tiles. (Right) Triacontahedral design of the particle, with each of the tiles formed by two capsid protein dimers coloured differently (courtesy of S. Duquerroy).

Fig. 2.

Schematic representation of the gene arrangement in genome dsRNA1 and dsRNA2 of human picobirnavirus strain Hy005102. Numbers indicate nucleotide positions.