Help ?

IGMIN: We're glad you're here. Please click 'create a new query' if you are a new visitor to our website and need further information from us.

If you are already a member of our network and need to keep track of any developments regarding a question you have already submitted, click 'take me to my Query.'

Subjects/Topics

Welcome to IgMin Research – an Open Access journal uniting Biology Group, Medicine Group, and Engineering Group. We’re dedicated to advancing global knowledge and fostering collaboration across scientific fields.

Members

We promote fostering alliances across disciplines to catalyze the rapid development of ideas.

Articles

We promote fostering alliances across disciplines to catalyze the rapid development of ideas.

Explore Content

We promote fostering alliances across disciplines to catalyze the rapid development of ideas.

Identify Us

We promote fostering alliances across disciplines to catalyze the rapid development of ideas.

IgMin Corporation

Welcome to IgMin, a leading platform dedicated to enhancing knowledge dissemination and professional growth across multiple fields of science, technology, and the humanities. We believe in the power of open access, collaboration, and innovation. Our goal is to provide individuals and organizations with the tools they need to succeed in the global knowledge economy.

Publications Support
[email protected]
E-Books Support
[email protected]
Webinars & Conferences Support
[email protected]
Content Writing Support
[email protected]
IT Support
[email protected]

Search

Explore Section

Content for the explore section slider goes here.

This item has received
282  Visits
90  Downloads
20.5MB  Data volume
Dimensions
Biology Group Editorial Article ID: igmin257

Support for the use of Binomial Nomenclature in the Taxonomy of Viruses

Zdenek Hubalek *
Taxonomy

Received 07 Oct 2024 Accepted 22 Oct 2024 Published online 23 Oct 2024

 

Two contrasting opinions about virus taxonomy or, more precisely, about virus nomenclature, appeared in the first 2004 issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases [11van Regenmortel MH, Mahy BW. Emerging issues in virus taxonomy. Emerg Infect Dis. 2004 Jan;10(1):8-13. doi: 10.3201/eid1001.030279. PMID: 15078590; PMCID: PMC3322749.,22Eberhard M. Virus taxonomy: one step forward, two steps back. Emerg Infect Dis. 2004 Jan;10(1):153-4. doi: 10.3201/eid1001.030945. PMID: 15112667; PMCID: PMC3322753.]. These differring ideas about scientific (vs. common) names of viruses are part of a long disagreement among virologists that can be tracked to the early 1950s [33ANDREWES CH. Viruses and Linnaeus. Acta Pathol Microbiol Scand. 1951;28(3):211-25. PMID: 14856728.,44HOLMES FO. The classifications of viruses. J Gen Microbiol. 1955 Apr;12(2):356-7. doi: 10.1099/00221287-12-2-356. PMID: 14367768.].

The three really major progressive steps of virus nomenclature (and taxonomy as well) achieved in the last decades have involved the acceptance of the taxa: 1) "family" and "genus" (the names are written in italics, the initial letter being capitalized); 2) "species" [55Van Regenmortel MH. Virus species, a much overlooked but essential concept in virus classification. Intervirology. 1990;31(5):241-54. doi: 10.1159/000150159. PMID: 2272775.,66Pringle CR. The 20th Meeting of the Executive Committee of ICTV. Arch Virol. 1991;119:303-4.]; 3) the binomial nomenclature. However, the last step has been carried out in an inappropriate way, contradicting the rules of general biological (i.e. Linnean) nomenclature as Mark Eberhard [22Eberhard M. Virus taxonomy: one step forward, two steps back. Emerg Infect Dis. 2004 Jan;10(1):153-4. doi: 10.3201/eid1001.030945. PMID: 15112667; PMCID: PMC3322753.] points out absolutely correctly. Linnean binomial nomenclature does namely use Latinized (Latin, Greek) but not English common names for specific epitheta, and the specific epitheton (written in italics with the first letter noncapitalized) must always be situated after the generic name (written with the first letter capitalized), not in the reverse order as it has been lately suggested by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV). It is a pity that the standard Latinized binomial nomenclature has not been generally adopted by the ICTV for viruses although it does work well in all other areas of life science. Because virologists have already accepted the fact that viruses belong to the field of biology, they have to follow the rules of general, i.e. Linnean biological nomenclature instead of constructing another system that is incompatible with other biological specialties. It is incorrect to object that it might be very difficult to coin Latinized names for an estimated 1,600 [77van Regenmortel MHV, Fauquet CM, Bishop DHL, Carstens EB, Estes MK, Lemon SM, Maniloff J, Mayo MA, McGeoch DJ, Pringle CR, Wickner RB, eds. Virus taxonomy: 7th report of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses. San Diego, CA: Academic Press; 2000.] virus species. For instance, such binomials might be proposed without great difficulties for 50 or so arboviruses that occurred in Europe in the 20th century [88Hubálek Z, Halouzka J. Arthropod-borne viruses of vertebrates in Europe. Acta Sci Nat Brno. 1996;30(4-5):1-95.]: the names have been based on generic names accepted by ICTV [] and on the concept of virus species [4-64-6HOLMES FO. The classifications of viruses. J Gen Microbiol. 1955 Apr;12(2):356-7. doi: 10.1099/00221287-12-2-356. PMID: 14367768.,1010Melnick JL. Taxonomy and nomenclature of viruses, 1982. Prog Med Virol. 1982;28:208-21. PMID: 6283601.]. The examples of the proposed arbovirus names could include, e.g., in the Togaviridae family: Sindbis virus - Alphavirus sindbis but not written as Sindbis Alphavirus (this new name has recently been approved by ICTV in MSL38 list of spp.); in the Orthoflaviviridae: West Nile virus - Flavivirus nili but not West Nile Flavivirus (recently approved by ICTV as Orthoflavivirus nilensis); dengue virus - Flavivirus dengue but not Dengue Flavivirus (recently approved by ICTV as Orthoflavivirus nilensis); tick-borne encephalitis virus - Flavivirus ixodetis (recently approved by ICTV as Orthoflavivirus encephalitidis); in the Peribunyaviridae: Batai virus - Bunyavirus batai (recently approved by ICTV as Orthobunyavirus bataiense); sandfly fever Naples virus - Phlebovirus neapolis (recently approved by ICTV as Phlebovirus napoliense); sandfly fever Sicilian virus - Phlebovirus siciliensis (recently approved by ICTV as Phlebovirus siciliaense); Toscana virus - Phlebovirus toscanae (recently approved by ICTV as Phlebovirus toscanaense); in the Nairoviridae: Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus - Nairovirus congocrimae (recently approved by ICTV as Orthonairovirus hemorrhagiae); in the Reovirales: bluetongue virus - Orbivirus linguaecyanei: Tribeč virus - Orbivirus tribeci.

It is obvious that the "Latinized" specific epitheta can be coined easily from the commonly used names, largely with only minor changes (at least in arboviruses whose names are usually formed according to the geographic site of original isolation). These scientific labels of viruses of course do not exclude at all the usage of the common English, German, French, Spanish, Russian, etc. names of viruses. However, the sort of combination of Latin (generic) and English (specific) names in the binomes as suggested by the previous ICTV report (species report MSL 37) is controversial and hardly acceptable from the Linnean bionomenclature point of view. However, the rules of the last species report of ICTV, i.e. MSL 38, are compatible with that nomenclature.

Remark: The text of this contribution was originally presented at the ICTV Discussion Forum in 2008 online [1111Hubalek Z. Virus nomenclature: three steps forward, a half step back. International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses - Collaboration, Information, Files, and Discussion. ICTVonline. July 15, 2008.] but without current virus species names as added now here from the MSL 38 report of ICTV. However, this paper has as yet not been published in any scientific journal.

References

  1. van Regenmortel MH, Mahy BW. Emerging issues in virus taxonomy. Emerg Infect Dis. 2004 Jan;10(1):8-13. doi: 10.3201/eid1001.030279. PMID: 15078590; PMCID: PMC3322749.

  2. Eberhard M. Virus taxonomy: one step forward, two steps back. Emerg Infect Dis. 2004 Jan;10(1):153-4. doi: 10.3201/eid1001.030945. PMID: 15112667; PMCID: PMC3322753.

  3. ANDREWES CH. Viruses and Linnaeus. Acta Pathol Microbiol Scand. 1951;28(3):211-25. PMID: 14856728.

  4. HOLMES FO. The classifications of viruses. J Gen Microbiol. 1955 Apr;12(2):356-7. doi: 10.1099/00221287-12-2-356. PMID: 14367768.

  5. Van Regenmortel MH. Virus species, a much overlooked but essential concept in virus classification. Intervirology. 1990;31(5):241-54. doi: 10.1159/000150159. PMID: 2272775.

  6. Pringle CR. The 20th Meeting of the Executive Committee of ICTV. Arch Virol. 1991;119:303-4.

  7. van Regenmortel MHV, Fauquet CM, Bishop DHL, Carstens EB, Estes MK, Lemon SM, Maniloff J, Mayo MA, McGeoch DJ, Pringle CR, Wickner RB, eds. Virus taxonomy: 7th report of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses. San Diego, CA: Academic Press; 2000.

  8. Hubálek Z, Halouzka J. Arthropod-borne viruses of vertebrates in Europe. Acta Sci Nat Brno. 1996;30(4-5):1-95.

  9. Virus taxonomy, 6th report of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses. Arch Virol Suppl. 1995;10:1-586. PMID: 7742649.

  10. Melnick JL. Taxonomy and nomenclature of viruses, 1982. Prog Med Virol. 1982;28:208-21. PMID: 6283601.

  11. Hubalek Z. Virus nomenclature: three steps forward, a half step back. International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses - Collaboration, Information, Files, and Discussion. ICTVonline. July 15, 2008.

About the Article

Check for updates
Cite this Article

Hubalek. Support for the use of Binomial Nomenclature in the Taxonomy of Viruses. IgMin Res. October 23, 2024; 2(10): 846-847. IgMin ID: igmin257; DOI:10.61927/igmin257; Available at: igmin.link/p257

07 Oct, 2024
Received
22 Oct, 2024
Accepted
23 Oct, 2024
Published
Share this Article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Topics
Taxonomy
  1. van Regenmortel MH, Mahy BW. Emerging issues in virus taxonomy. Emerg Infect Dis. 2004 Jan;10(1):8-13. doi: 10.3201/eid1001.030279. PMID: 15078590; PMCID: PMC3322749.

  2. Eberhard M. Virus taxonomy: one step forward, two steps back. Emerg Infect Dis. 2004 Jan;10(1):153-4. doi: 10.3201/eid1001.030945. PMID: 15112667; PMCID: PMC3322753.

  3. ANDREWES CH. Viruses and Linnaeus. Acta Pathol Microbiol Scand. 1951;28(3):211-25. PMID: 14856728.

  4. HOLMES FO. The classifications of viruses. J Gen Microbiol. 1955 Apr;12(2):356-7. doi: 10.1099/00221287-12-2-356. PMID: 14367768.

  5. Van Regenmortel MH. Virus species, a much overlooked but essential concept in virus classification. Intervirology. 1990;31(5):241-54. doi: 10.1159/000150159. PMID: 2272775.

  6. Pringle CR. The 20th Meeting of the Executive Committee of ICTV. Arch Virol. 1991;119:303-4.

  7. van Regenmortel MHV, Fauquet CM, Bishop DHL, Carstens EB, Estes MK, Lemon SM, Maniloff J, Mayo MA, McGeoch DJ, Pringle CR, Wickner RB, eds. Virus taxonomy: 7th report of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses. San Diego, CA: Academic Press; 2000.

  8. Hubálek Z, Halouzka J. Arthropod-borne viruses of vertebrates in Europe. Acta Sci Nat Brno. 1996;30(4-5):1-95.

  9. Virus taxonomy, 6th report of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses. Arch Virol Suppl. 1995;10:1-586. PMID: 7742649.

  10. Melnick JL. Taxonomy and nomenclature of viruses, 1982. Prog Med Virol. 1982;28:208-21. PMID: 6283601.

  11. Hubalek Z. Virus nomenclature: three steps forward, a half step back. International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses - Collaboration, Information, Files, and Discussion. ICTVonline. July 15, 2008.

Experience Content

Views Downloads
IgMin Research 282 90
Dimensions

Licensing

Similar Articles

Investigation of Lateral Vibrations in Turbine-generator Unit 5 of the Inga 2 Hydroelectric Power Plant
André Mampuya Nzita, Edmond Phuku Phuati, Robert Muanda Ngimbi, Guyh Dituba Ngoma and Nathanaël Masiala Mavungu
DOI10.61927/igmin173