''Spumaretrovirinae'', commonly called spumaviruses (,
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 ...
for "foam") or foamyviruses, is a subfamily of the ''
Retroviridae
A retrovirus is a type of virus that inserts a DNA copy of its RNA genome into the DNA of a host cell that it invades, thus changing the genome of that cell. After invading a host cell's cytoplasm, the virus uses its own reverse transcriptase ...
''
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 ...
.
[ ICTV]
Master Species List 2018a v1
MSL including all taxa updates since the 2017 release. Fall 2018 (MSL #33) Spumaviruses are
exogenous viruses that have specific
morphology
Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to:
Disciplines
*Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts
*Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies, ...
with prominent surface
spikes. The
virions
A virion (plural, ''viria'' or ''virions'') is an inert virus particle capable of invading a cell. Upon entering the cell, the virion disassembles and the genetic material from the virus takes control of the cell infrastructure, thus enabling th ...
contain significant amounts of double-stranded full-length
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid (; DNA) is a polymer composed of two polynucleotide chains that coil around each other to form a double helix. The polymer carries genetic instructions for the development, functioning, growth and reproduction of al ...
, and assembly is rather unusual in these viruses. Spumaviruses are unlike most enveloped viruses in that the
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 ...
membrane is acquired 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 ...
through the
endoplasmic reticulum
The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is a part of a transportation system of the eukaryote, eukaryotic cell, and has many other important functions such as protein folding. The word endoplasmic means "within the cytoplasm", and reticulum is Latin for ...
instead of the
cytoplasmic membrane
The cell membrane (also known as the plasma membrane or cytoplasmic membrane, and historically referred to as the plasmalemma) is a biological membrane that separates and protects the cytoplasm, interior of a Cell (biology), cell from the extrac ...
. Some spumaviruses, including the equine foamy virus (EFV), bud from the cytoplasmic membrane.
Some examples of these viruses are
simian foamy virus
''Simian foamy virus'' (SFV), historically Human foamy virus (HFV), is a species of the genus '' Spumavirus'' that belongs to the family of ''Retroviridae''. It has been identified in a wide variety of primates, including prosimians, New World an ...
and the
human foamy virus
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 ...
.
While spumaviruses will form characteristic large vacuoles in their host cells while ''in vitro'', there is no disease association ''in vivo''.
References
Further reading
*
External links
*
*
Viralzone: "Spumavirus"
Spumaviruses
{{virus-stub
de:Spumaviren
es:Spumavirus