Rename the family Ophioviridae and its constituent species

Authors: GARCIA, MARIA LAURA - Universidad De La Plata; DAL BO, ELENA - Universidad De La Plata; DA GRACA, JOHN - Texas A&M University; GAGO-ZACHERT, SELMA - Leibniz Institute Of Plant Biochemistry; Hammond, John; MORENO, PEDRO - Instituto Valenciano De Investigaciones Agrarias; NATSUAKI, TOMOHIDE - Utsunomiya University; PALLAS, VICENTE - Polytechnic University Of Valencia (UPV); NAVARRO, JOSE - Polytechnic University Of Valencia (UPV); REYES, CARINA - Universidad De La Plata; ROBLES LUNA, GABRIEL - Universidad De La Plata; SASAYA, TAKAHIDE - National Agriculture And Food Research Organization (NARO), Agricultrual Research Center; TZANETAKIS, IOANNIS - University Of Arkansas; VAIRA, ANNA MARIA - National Research Council - Italy; VERBEEK, MARTIN - Wageningen University And Research Center; KUHN, JENS - National Institutes Of Health (NIH)

Submitted to: Electronic Publication
Publication Type: Other
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/8/2017
Publication Date: 6/8/2017
Citation: Garcia, M., Dal Bo, E., Da Graca, J.V., Gago-Zachert, S., Hammond, J., Moreno, P., Natsuaki, T., Pallas, V., Navarro, J.A., Reyes, C.A., Robles Luna, G., Sasaya, T., Tzanetakis, I., Vaira, A., Verbeek, M., Kuhn, J.H. 2017. Rename the family Ophioviridae and its constituent species. International Committee on Viral Taxonomy. talk.ictvonline.org/files/proposals/taxonomy_proposals_plant1/m/plant01/6791.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: A transparent and functional system for virus classification is essential to allow scientists to correctly identify and report on viruses detected in different hosts or locations without ambiguity. This is a taxonomic proposal from the Ophioviridae Study Group of the International Committee on Viral Taxonomy (ICTV) for discussion by the Executive Committee of the ICTV, to be posted on the ICTV website for comment and consideration prior to potential ratification by the Executive Committee of the ICTV. We propose the following: Rename the family - The family Ophioviridae currently includes seven species assigned to a single genus. The name of this genus, Ophiovirus, uses a word stem eponymous with that used for the family name, i.e. “ophio”. The vernacular “ophiovirus” or “ophioviral” will therefore become ambiguous if the family is extended by additional genera as it is unclear whether these words refer to all members of the family or only to those of the one currently existing genus. Because the family Ophioviridae is expected to expand due to the discovery of several ophio-like viruses that could not be assigned to the existing genus (Fusarium poae negative-stranded RNA virus 1, Rhizoctonia solani negative-stranded virus 1–3; Marzano et al. and Osaki et al.), it is proposed to prospectively abolish the ambiguity by replacing the family name “Ophioviridae” with “Aspiviridae” (Aspi from Latin aspi [“snake”, resembling the morphology]). Members of the family would then be collectively referred to as “aspiviruses” – all ophioviruses would be aspiviruses, but not all aspiviruses would necessarily be ophioviruses. Rename the species - At the moment, all ophiovirus species names are identical in spelling to the names of their virus members and only differ by presence or absence of italics and/or capitalization (e.g., the species Citrus psorosis virus is the taxonomic home for citrus psorosis virus [CPsV]). Consequently, species and virus names are easily confused and misused. To remove this ambiguity, we propose replacing the current ambiguous species names with non-Latinized binomial names distinct from virus names as proposed by van Regenmortel et al., and as already implemented for all negative-strand RNA virus families (Arenaviridae, Bornaviridae, Feraviridae, Filoviridae, Fimoviridae, Hantaviridae, Jonviridae, Mymonaviridae, Nairoviridae, Nyamiviridae, Paramyxoviridae, Peribunyaviridae, Phasmaviridae, Phenuiviridae, Pneumoviridae, Rhabdoviridae, Tospviridae, and Sunviridae) except one (Orthomyxoviridae).