''Aspiviridae'', formerly ''Ophioviridae'', is a family of segmented

negative-strand RNA virus Negative-strand RNA viruses (−ssRNA viruses) are a group of related viruses that have Sense (molecular biology), negative-sense, single-stranded genomes made of ribonucleic acid (RNA). They have genomes that act as complementary strands from w ...

es which infect

plant Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with c ...

s. Member viruses are characterized by an elongated and highly

filamentous The word filament, which is descended from Latin ''filum'' meaning "Thread (yarn), thread", is used in English for a variety of thread-like structures, including: Astronomy * Galaxy filament, the largest known cosmic structures in the universe * ...

and flexible

nucleocapsid 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 ma ...

with helical

symmetry Symmetry () in everyday life refers to a sense of harmonious and beautiful proportion and balance. In mathematics, the term has a more precise definition and is usually used to refer to an object that is Invariant (mathematics), invariant und ...

. It is a

monotypic taxon In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of Genus, genera, the term ...

containing only one genus, ''Ophiovirus''. ''Aspiviridae'' is also the only family in the order ''Serpentovirales'', which in turn is the only order in the class ''Milneviricetes''.

History

The name ''Aspiviridae'' derives from the

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

(

snake Snakes are elongated limbless reptiles of the suborder Serpentes (). Cladistically squamates, snakes are ectothermic, amniote vertebrates covered in overlapping scales much like other members of the group. Many species of snakes have s ...

viper Vipers are snakes in the family Viperidae, found in most parts of the world, except for Antarctica, Australia, Hawaii, Madagascar, New Zealand, Ireland, and various other isolated islands. They are venomous and have long (relative to non-vipe ...

), referring to the shape, along with the suffix for a virus family ''-viridae''. ''Ophiovirus'' derives from the

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...

''ophi''s, "snake", with –''virus'' the suffix for a virus genus. Likewise, ''Serpentovirales'' is from " serpent" with ''-virales'' the suffix for a virus order. ''Milneviricetes'' is in honor of Robert G. Milne, the last author on the first paper describing ophioviruses.

Virology

Structure

The protein

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 ...

is non-

envelope An envelope is a common packaging item, usually made of thin, flat material. It is designed to contain a flat object, such as a letter (message), letter or Greeting card, card. Traditional envelopes are made from sheets of paper cut to one o ...

d and has a constant diameter of 1500–2500 nm and a width of 3 nm, or 9 nm. The capsids form kinked circles, which can collapse to form linear duplex structures, much like a spring.

Genome

Member viruses have segmented,

negative-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 genomes. The entire

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 ...

is 11000–12000

nucleotide Nucleotides are Organic compound, organic molecules composed of a nitrogenous base, a pentose sugar and a phosphate. They serve as monomeric units of the nucleic acid polymers – deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA), both o ...

s long.

Taxonomy

The family has one genus, ''Ophiovirus'', which has eight recognized species. Members of both the family and the genus are referred to as ophioviruses. ''Ophiovirus'' contains the following species, listed by scientific name and followed by the exemplar virus of the species: * ''Ophiovirus capsici'',

Pepper chlorosis associated virus Pepper(s) may refer to: Food and spice * Piperaceae or the pepper family, a large family of flowering plants ** Black pepper ** Long pepper ** Kampot pepper * ''Capsicum'' or pepper, a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family Solanaceae ...

* ''Ophiovirus citri'',

Citrus psorosis virus Citrus psorosis virus is a plant pathogenic virus infecting citrus plants worldwide. It is considered the most serious and detrimental virus pathogen of these trees. Psorosis disease Psorosis includes various graft-transmitted diseases all of ...

* ''Ophiovirus freesiae'',

Freesia sneak virus ''Freesia'' is a genus of herbaceous perennial flowering plants in the family Iridaceae, first described as a genus in 1866 by Christian Friedrich Ecklon (1886) and named after the German botanist and medical practitioner, Friedrich Freese (1795 ...

* ''Ophiovirus lactucae'',

Lettuce ring necrosis virus Lettuce (''Lactuca sativa'') is an annual plant of the family Asteraceae mostly grown as a leaf vegetable. The leaves are most often used raw in green salads, although lettuce is also seen in other kinds of food, such as sandwiches, wraps and ...

* ''Ophiovirus mirafioriense'',

Mirafiori lettuce big-vein virus The Stabilimento di Mirafiori (in English: Mirafiori Factory) is the headquarters and industrial district of the Italian automobile manufacturer Fiat, a subsidiary of FCA Italy, which is part of Stellantis, and is the headquarters of CNH Industr ...

* ''Ophiovirus ranunculi'',

Ranunculus white mottle virus ''Ranunculus'' is a large genus of about 1750 species of flowering plants in the family Ranunculaceae. Members of the genus are known as buttercups, spearworts and water crowfoots. The genus is distributed worldwide, primarily in temperate an ...

* ''Ophiovirus tulipae'',

Tulip mild mottle mosaic virus Tulips are spring-blooming perennial herbaceous bulbiferous geophytes in the ''Tulipa'' genus. Their flowers are usually large, showy, and brightly coloured, generally red, orange, pink, yellow, or white. They often have a different coloured ...

* ''Ophiovirus vaccinii'',

Blueberry mosaic associated virus Blueberry mosaic associated virus (B1MaV) is a plant virus which infects blueberry plants, causing a discoloration of the leaves of the plants in a mosaic-like pattern. The disease is found in blueberry plants in many regions of North America, as ...

References

External links

ICTV Online Report Ophioviridae

{{Taxonbar, from=Q55116464, from2=Q7097974, from3=Q18811658, from4=Q57742139, from5=Q57739566 Virus families