Mitoviruses are a

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

positive-strand RNA virus Positive-strand RNA viruses (+ssRNA viruses) are a group of related viruses that have Sense (molecular biology), positive-sense, single-stranded genomes made of ribonucleic acid. The positive-sense genome can act as messenger RNA (mRNA) and can ...

es that constitute the family ''Mitoviridae''.

Fungi A fungus (: fungi , , , or ; or funguses) is any member of the group of eukaryotic organisms that includes microorganisms such as yeasts and mold (fungus), molds, as well as the more familiar mushrooms. These organisms are classified as one ...

serve as natural hosts. There are four genera in the family.

Structure

Mitoviruses have no true virion. They do not have structural proteins or a

capsid A capsid is the protein shell of a virus, enclosing its genetic material. It consists of several oligomeric (repeating) structural subunits made of protein called protomers. The observable 3-dimensional morphological subunits, which may or m ...

Genome

Mitoviruses have nonsegmented, linear,

positive-sense In molecular biology and genetics, the sense of a nucleic acid molecule, particularly of a strand of DNA or RNA, refers to the nature of the roles of the strand and its complement in specifying a sequence of amino acids. Depending on the context, ...

, single-stranded

RNA genome Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a polymeric molecule that is essential for most biological functions, either by performing the function itself (non-coding RNA) or by forming a template for the production of proteins (messenger RNA). RNA and deoxyri ...

s. The genome has one

open reading frame In molecular biology, reading frames are defined as spans of DNA sequence between the start and stop codons. Usually, this is considered within a studied region of a prokaryotic DNA sequence, where only one of the six possible reading frames ...

which encodes the

RNA-dependent RNA polymerase RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) or RNA replicase is an enzyme that catalyzes the self-replication, replication of RNA from an RNA template. Specifically, it catalyzes synthesis of the RNA strand Complementarity (molecular biology), compleme ...

(RdRp). The genome is associated with the RdRp in 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 ...

of the fungi host and forms a naked

ribonucleoprotein Nucleoproteins are proteins conjugated with nucleic acids (either DNA or RNA). Typical nucleoproteins include ribosomes, nucleosomes and viral nucleocapsid proteins. Structures Nucleoproteins tend to be positively charged, facilitating inter ...

complex.

Life cycle

Viral replication is cytoplasmic. Replication follows the positive-strand RNA virus replication model. Positive-strand RNA virus transcription is the method of transcription. The virus exits the host cell by cell-to-cell movement. Fungi serve as the natural host. Transmission routes are parental and sexual.

Taxonomy

The family contains four genera: * '' Duamitovirus'' * '' Kvaramitovirus'' * '' Triamitovirus'' * '' Unuamitovirus''

References

External links

Viralzone: Mitoviridae

ICTV
{{Taxonbar, from=Q18819838 Mycoviruses Virus families