Phasmaviridae is a family of viruses with
negative stranded RNA genomes associated with insect hosts. The family belongs to the order ''
Elliovirales''.
Phasmaviruses were first discovered in phantom midges of the genus ''
Chaoborus'' in 2014.
Taxonomy
The family contains the following genera:
* ''
Cicadellivirus''
* ''
Feravirus''
* ''
Hymovirus''
* ''
Jonvirus''
* ''
Orthophasmavirus''
* ''
Sawastrivirus''
* ''
Wuhivirus''
''Ferak feravirus''
''Feravirus ferakinum'', a member of the genus ''
Feravirus'', has been isolated in
cell culture
Cell culture or tissue culture is the process by which cell (biology), cells are grown under controlled conditions, generally outside of their natural environment. After cells of interest have been Cell isolation, isolated from living tissue, ...
. The virion is enveloped and spherical with a diameter of 80–120
nanometer
330px, Different lengths as in respect to the Molecule">molecular scale.
The nanometre (international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: nm), or nanometer (American spelling
Despite the va ...
s. The
genome
A genome is all the genetic information of an organism. It consists of nucleotide sequences of DNA (or RNA in RNA viruses). The nuclear genome includes protein-coding genes and non-coding genes, other functional regions of the genome such as ...
has three segments L (6.8 kilobases), M (4.2 kilobases) and S (1.5 kilobases). It encodes five
protein
Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residue (biochemistry), residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including Enzyme catalysis, catalysing metab ...
s—the
polymerase
In biochemistry, a polymerase is an enzyme (Enzyme Commission number, EC 2.7.7.6/7/19/48/49) that synthesizes long chains of polymers or nucleic acids. DNA polymerase and RNA polymerase are used to assemble DNA and RNA molecules, respectively, by ...
on the L segment, the p12G and the Gc-Gn protein on the M segment and the N and p12 proteins in the S segment.
[Marklewitz M, Zirkel F, Kurth A, Drosten C, Junglen S (2015) Evolutionary and phenotypic analysis of live virus isolates suggests arthropod origin of a pathogenic RNA virus family. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 112(24):7536–7541. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1502036112]
A Gn–Gc
glycoprotein
Glycoproteins are proteins which contain oligosaccharide (sugar) chains covalently attached to amino acid side-chains. The carbohydrate is attached to the protein in a cotranslational or posttranslational modification. This process is known a ...
dimer binds to the
cell receptor. The virus is
endocytosed and escapes into the
cytoplasm
The cytoplasm describes all the material within a eukaryotic or prokaryotic cell, enclosed by the cell membrane, including the organelles and excluding the nucleus in eukaryotic cells. The material inside the nucleus of a eukaryotic cell a ...
where it
replicates. It is released from the cell by
budding
Budding or blastogenesis is a type of asexual reproduction in which a new organism develops from an outgrowth or bud due to cell division at one particular site. For example, the small bulb-like projection coming out from the yeast cell is kno ...
.
[
]
References
External links
* Viral zon
Virus Pathogen Database and Analysis Resource (ViPR): Bunyavirales
Bunyavirales
Virus families
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