The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) is responsible for developing and maintaining an internationally agreed system of hierarchical classification of viruses and naming of taxa, available to the scientific community through a website (https://talk.ictvonline.org) and published reports/papers. The taxonomic framework has been adapted over the years to reflect current knowledge on the evolution of global virosphere. The ICTV now allows the classification of viruses known only from genomic data. The expansion of taxonomic ranks beyond orders allows studies on evolutionary connections of viruses. In other biological taxonomies, species naming follows a Latinized binomial format first introduced by Carl Linnaeus in 1753, consisting of two italicized words indicating the genus and the species epithet (Arabidopsis thaliana, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Homo sapiens, Escherichia coli). In contrast, viral species names did not follow a uniform format, except for a requirement to be italicized and to have the first letter of the first word capitalized. Embracing the need for a standardized format, a binomial nomenclature for virus species was ratified by the ICTV in 2021. Thus, a virus species name will consist of two italicized words, the first one being the genus name and the second one consisting of a "free-form" species epithet, composed using the standard Latin-script English alphabet containing 26 letters and/or Arabic numbers. Linnaean-style, Latinized virus species are permitted, but not mandated. Importantly, this change in nomenclature will apply to virus species only. Common virus names will not be affected and will remain unchanged.
THE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE ON TAXONOMY OF VIRUSES (ICTV) ADOPTS A BINOMIAL NOMENCLATURE FOR VIRUS SPECIES
L Rubino;
2021
Abstract
The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) is responsible for developing and maintaining an internationally agreed system of hierarchical classification of viruses and naming of taxa, available to the scientific community through a website (https://talk.ictvonline.org) and published reports/papers. The taxonomic framework has been adapted over the years to reflect current knowledge on the evolution of global virosphere. The ICTV now allows the classification of viruses known only from genomic data. The expansion of taxonomic ranks beyond orders allows studies on evolutionary connections of viruses. In other biological taxonomies, species naming follows a Latinized binomial format first introduced by Carl Linnaeus in 1753, consisting of two italicized words indicating the genus and the species epithet (Arabidopsis thaliana, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Homo sapiens, Escherichia coli). In contrast, viral species names did not follow a uniform format, except for a requirement to be italicized and to have the first letter of the first word capitalized. Embracing the need for a standardized format, a binomial nomenclature for virus species was ratified by the ICTV in 2021. Thus, a virus species name will consist of two italicized words, the first one being the genus name and the second one consisting of a "free-form" species epithet, composed using the standard Latin-script English alphabet containing 26 letters and/or Arabic numbers. Linnaean-style, Latinized virus species are permitted, but not mandated. Importantly, this change in nomenclature will apply to virus species only. Common virus names will not be affected and will remain unchanged.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
