The

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

''Marburgvirus'' is the taxonomic home of ''Marburg marburgvirus'', whose members are the two known marburgviruses, Marburg virus (MARV) and Ravn virus (RAVV). Both viruses cause Marburg virus disease in

human Humans (''Homo sapiens'') or modern humans are the most common and widespread species of primate, and the last surviving species of the genus ''Homo''. They are Hominidae, great apes characterized by their Prehistory of nakedness and clothing ...

s and nonhuman

primate Primates is an order (biology), order of mammals, which is further divided into the Strepsirrhini, strepsirrhines, which include lemurs, galagos, and Lorisidae, lorisids; and the Haplorhini, haplorhines, which include Tarsiiformes, tarsiers a ...

s, a form of viral hemorrhagic fever. Both are select agents,

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...

Risk Group 4 Pathogens (requiring Biosafety Level 4-equivalent containment),

National Institutes of Health The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the primary agency of the United States government responsible for biomedical and public health research. It was founded in 1887 and is part of the United States Department of Health and Human Service ...

/ National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Category A Priority Pathogens,

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the National public health institutes, national public health agency of the United States. It is a Federal agencies of the United States, United States federal agency under the United S ...

Category A Bioterrorism Agents, and are listed as Biological Agents for Export Control by the Australia Group.

Use of term

The

''Marburgvirus'' is a virological taxon included in the family '' Filoviridae'', order '' Mononegavirales''. The genus currently includes a single

virus A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living Cell (biology), cells of an organism. Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea. Viruses are ...

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

, '' Marburg marburgvirus''. The members of the genus (i.e. the actual physical entities) are called marburgviruses. The name ''Marburgvirus'' is derived from the city of Marburg in

Hesse Hesse or Hessen ( ), officially the State of Hesse (), is a States of Germany, state in Germany. Its capital city is Wiesbaden, and the largest urban area is Frankfurt, which is also the country's principal financial centre. Two other major hist ...

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

(where Marburg virus was first discovered), and the taxonomic suffix ''-virus'' (which denotes a virus genus). Even though the virus was named after the city of Marburg, Dr. Ana Gligić, lead virologist at a laboratory in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

, was first who managed to isolate the virus.NOTE: ''Marburgvirus'' is pronounced , and ''Marburg marburgvirus'' is pronounced . According to the rules for taxon naming established by the

International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) authorizes and organizes the taxonomic classification of and the nomenclature for viruses. The ICTV develops a universal taxonomic scheme for viruses, and thus has the means to appropri ...

(ICTV), the name ''Marburg marburgvirus'' is always to be capitalized, italicized, never abbreviated, and to be preceded by the word "species". The names of its members (Marburg marburgviruses) are to be capitalized, are not italicized, and used without articles; according to Kuhn.

Previous designations

Until 1998, the family '' Filoviridae'' contained only one genus, ''Filovirus''. Once it became clear that marburgviruses and ebolaviruses are fundamentally different, this genus was abolished and a genus "Marburg-like viruses" was established for marburgviruses. In 2002, the genus name was changed to ''Marburgvirus'', and in 2010 and 2011 the genus was emended.

Genus inclusion criteria

A virus that fulfills the criteria for being a member of the family '' Filoviridae'' is a member of the genus ''Marburgvirus'' if * its genome has one gene overlap * its fourth gene (''GP'') encodes only one protein (GP_1,2) and cotranscriptional editing is not necessary for its expression * peak infectivity of its virions is association with particles ≈665 nm in length * its genome differs from that of Marburg virus by <50% at the nucleotide level * its virions show almost no antigenic cross reactivity with ebolavirions

Genus organization

''Marburg marburgvirus''

The species was introduced in 1998 as ''Marburg virus''. Because of easy confusion with its virus member Marburg virus, the species name was changed to ''Lake Viktoria marburgvirus'' in 2005. In 2010, it was proposed to change the name to ''Marburg marburgvirus'', and this proposal was accepted in early 2012 by the ICTV. ''Marburg marburgvirus'' (also referred to as ''Lake Victoria marburgvirus'') is a virological taxon (i.e. a man-made concept) included in the genus ''Marburgvirus'', family '' Filoviridae'', order '' Mononegavirales''. The species has two

members, Marburg virus (MARV) and Ravn virus (RAVV). The members of the species (i.e. the actual physical entities) are called Marburg marburgviruses. The name ''Marburg marburgvirus'' is derived from the city of Marburg in

(where Marburg virus was first discovered), and the taxonomic

suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns and adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can ca ...

''marburgvirus'' (which denotes a marburgvirus species).

Species inclusion criteria

A virus that fulfills the criteria for being a member of the genus ''Marburgvirus'' is a member of the species ''Marburg marburgvirus'' if it has the properties of marburgviruses (because there is currently only marburgvirus species) and if its genome differs from that of Marburg virus (variant Musoke) by <30% at the nucleotide level.

References

External links

ICTV Report: ''Filoviridae''

International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV)
{{Taxonbar, from1=Q15728844, from2=Q6755280 Primate diseases Animal viral diseases Arthropod-borne viral fevers and viral haemorrhagic fevers Biological agents Hemorrhagic fevers Tropical diseases Zoonotic viral diseases Chiroptera-borne diseases Filoviridae Virus genera