ICTV Virus Taxonomy Profile: Parvoviridae

Abstract

Members of the family Parvoviridae are small, resilient, non-enveloped viruses with linear, single-stranded DNA genomes of 4-6 kb. Viruses in two subfamilies, the Parvovirinae and Densovirinae, are distinguished primarily by their respective ability to infect vertebrates (including humans) versus invertebrates. Being genetically limited, most parvoviruses require actively dividing host cells and are host and/or tissue specific. Some cause diseases, which range from subclinical to lethal. A few require co-infection with helper viruses from other families. This is a summary of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) Report on the Parvoviridae, which is available at www.ictv.global/report/parvoviridae.

Keywords: Densovirinae; ICTV Report; Parvoviridae; Parvovirinae; taxonomy.

Fig. 1.

Virion morphology. Three-dimensional X-ray diffraction structures of exemplar parvoviruses at 3.1–3.4 Å resolution, obtained using PDBs 1MVM and 3P0S. Colour depicts distance from the virus centre; triangles outline one of 60 icosahedral units showing the 2-, 3- and 5-fold axes of symmetry.

Fig. 2.

Parvovirus genome organization shows genus-specific variations. Terminal hairpins are magnified relative to the coding region to show predicted secondary structures. ORFs are indicated by arrowed boxes. Angled arrows indicate transcriptional promoters and AAAAA indicates polyadenylation sites.