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. 2023 Jan 23;168(2):74.
doi: 10.1007/s00705-022-05694-2.

Abolishment of morphology-based taxa and change to binomial species names: 2022 taxonomy update of the ICTV bacterial viruses subcommittee

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Abolishment of morphology-based taxa and change to binomial species names: 2022 taxonomy update of the ICTV bacterial viruses subcommittee

Dann Turner et al. Arch Virol. .

Abstract

This article summarises the activities of the Bacterial Viruses Subcommittee of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses for the period of March 2021-March 2022. We provide an overview of the new taxa proposed in 2021, approved by the Executive Committee, and ratified by vote in 2022. Significant changes to the taxonomy of bacterial viruses were introduced: the paraphyletic morphological families Podoviridae, Siphoviridae, and Myoviridae as well as the order Caudovirales were abolished, and a binomial system of nomenclature for species was established. In addition, one order, 22 families, 30 subfamilies, 321 genera, and 862 species were newly created, promoted, or moved.

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Conflict of interest statement

All authors are current members of the Bacterial Viruses Subcommittee and/or Archaeal Viruses Subcommittee of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV).

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Cladogram depicting the taxonomic structure of the order Caudoviricetes. New bacterial and archaeal virus families created in 2021 are highlighted in green or blue, respectively, and those abolished are in red. Numbers of subfamilies, genera, and species are depicted as histograms adjacent to each family. Numbers in parentheses indicate changes recorded from ratified taxonomic proposals. Subfamilies and genera moved from the abolished families Myoviridae, Podoviridae, and Siphoviridae are detailed in Supplementary Table S1.

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