TY - JOUR
T1 - Strengthening the Interaction of the Virology Community with the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) by Linking Virus Names and Their Abbreviations to Virus Species
AU - Calisher, Charles H.
AU - Briese, Thomas
AU - Brister, J. Rodney
AU - Charrel, Rémi N.
AU - Dürrwald, Ralf
AU - Ebihara, Hideki
AU - Fulhorst, Charles F.
AU - Gao, George Fú
AU - Groschup, Martin H.
AU - Haddow, Andrew D.
AU - Hyndman, Timothy H.
AU - Junglen, Sandra
AU - Klempa, Boris
AU - Klingström, Jonas
AU - Kropinski, Andrew M.
AU - Krupovic, Mart
AU - Labeaud, A. Desiree
AU - Maes, Piet
AU - Nowotny, Norbert
AU - Nunes, Márcio Roberto Teixeira
AU - Payne, Susan L.
AU - Radoshitzky, Sheli R.
AU - Rubbenstroth, Dennis
AU - Sabanadzovic, Sead
AU - Sasaya, Takahide
AU - Stenglein, Mark D.
AU - Varsani, Arvind
AU - Wahl, Victoria
AU - Weaver, Scott C.
AU - Zerbini, Francisco Murilo
AU - Vasilakis, Nikos
AU - Kuhn, Jens H.
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2019 Published by Oxford University Press, on behalf of the Society of Systematic Biologists 2019.
PY - 2019/9/1
Y1 - 2019/9/1
N2 - The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) is tasked with classifying viruses into taxa (phyla to species) and devising taxon names. Virus names and virus name abbreviations are currently not within the ICTV's official remit and are not regulated by an official entity. Many scientists, medical/veterinary professionals, and regulatory agencies do not address evolutionary questions nor are they concerned with the hierarchical organization of the viral world, and therefore, have limited use for ICTV-devised taxa. Instead, these professionals look to the ICTV as an expert point source that provides the most current taxonomic affiliations of viruses of interests to facilitate document writing. These needs are currently unmet as an ICTV-supported, easily searchable database that includes all published virus names and abbreviations linked to their taxa is not available. In addition, in stark contrast to other biological taxonomic frameworks, virus taxonomy currently permits individual species to have several members. Consequently, confusion emerges among those who are not aware of the difference between taxa and viruses, and because certain well-known viruses cannot be located in ICTV publications or be linked to their species. In addition, the number of duplicate names and abbreviations has increased dramatically in the literature. To solve this conundrum, the ICTV could mandate listing all viruses of established species and all reported unclassified viruses in forthcoming online ICTV Reports and create a searchable webpage using this information. The International Union of Microbiology Societies could also consider changing the mandate of the ICTV to include the nomenclature of all viruses in addition to taxon considerations. With such a mandate expansion, official virus names and virus name abbreviations could be catalogued and virus nomenclature could be standardized. As a result, the ICTV would become an even more useful resource for all stakeholders in virology.
AB - The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) is tasked with classifying viruses into taxa (phyla to species) and devising taxon names. Virus names and virus name abbreviations are currently not within the ICTV's official remit and are not regulated by an official entity. Many scientists, medical/veterinary professionals, and regulatory agencies do not address evolutionary questions nor are they concerned with the hierarchical organization of the viral world, and therefore, have limited use for ICTV-devised taxa. Instead, these professionals look to the ICTV as an expert point source that provides the most current taxonomic affiliations of viruses of interests to facilitate document writing. These needs are currently unmet as an ICTV-supported, easily searchable database that includes all published virus names and abbreviations linked to their taxa is not available. In addition, in stark contrast to other biological taxonomic frameworks, virus taxonomy currently permits individual species to have several members. Consequently, confusion emerges among those who are not aware of the difference between taxa and viruses, and because certain well-known viruses cannot be located in ICTV publications or be linked to their species. In addition, the number of duplicate names and abbreviations has increased dramatically in the literature. To solve this conundrum, the ICTV could mandate listing all viruses of established species and all reported unclassified viruses in forthcoming online ICTV Reports and create a searchable webpage using this information. The International Union of Microbiology Societies could also consider changing the mandate of the ICTV to include the nomenclature of all viruses in addition to taxon considerations. With such a mandate expansion, official virus names and virus name abbreviations could be catalogued and virus nomenclature could be standardized. As a result, the ICTV would become an even more useful resource for all stakeholders in virology.
KW - (ICTV)
KW - Arbovirus
KW - International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses
KW - classification
KW - nomenclature
KW - species
KW - taxonomy
KW - virus
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85071482283&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85071482283&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/sysbio/syy087
DO - 10.1093/sysbio/syy087
M3 - Review article
C2 - 30597118
SN - 1063-5157
VL - 68
SP - 828
EP - 839
JO - Systematic biology
JF - Systematic biology
IS - 5
ER -