Virus taxonomy proposal summaries: a searchable and citable resource to disseminate virus taxonomy advances.

Taxonomic classification of cellular organisms requires the publication of descriptions and proposed names of species and the deposition of specimens. Virus taxonomy is developed through a different system of annual submission of formal taxonomy proposals (TPs) that can be submitted by anyone but are typically prepared by a study group appointed by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) and consisting of experts on a particular group of viruses. These are initially evaluated by an expert subcommittee and by the executive committee (EC) of the ICTV.

Changes to virus taxonomy and the ICTV Statutes ratified by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (2023).

This article reports changes to virus taxonomy and taxon nomenclature that were approved and ratified by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) in April 2023. The entire ICTV membership was invited to vote on 174 taxonomic proposals that had been approved by the ICTV Executive Committee in July 2022, as well as a proposed revision of the ICTV Statutes. All proposals and the revised ICTV Statutes were approved by a majority of the voting membership.

Virus taxonomy and the role of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV).

The taxonomy of viruses is developed and overseen by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV), which scrutinizes, approves and ratifies taxonomic proposals, and maintains a list of virus taxa with approved names (https://ictv.global). The ICTV has approximately 180 members who vote by simple majority.

Four principles to establish a universal virus taxonomy.

A universal taxonomy of viruses is essential for a comprehensive view of the virus world and for communicating the complicated evolutionary relationships among viruses. However, there are major differences in the conceptualisation and approaches to virus classification and nomenclature among virologists, clinicians, agronomists, and other interested parties. Here, we provide recommendations to guide the construction of a coherent and comprehensive virus taxonomy, based on expert scientific consensus.

Differentiating between viruses and virus species by writing their names correctly.

Following the results of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) Ratification Vote held in March 2021, a standard two-part "binomial nomenclature" is now the norm for naming virus species. Adoption of the new nomenclature is still in its infancy; thus, it is timely to reiterate the distinction between "virus" and "virus species" and to provide guidelines for naming and writing them correctly.

Is Protein Folding a Thermodynamically Unfavorable, Active, Energy-Dependent Process?

The prevailing current view of protein folding is the thermodynamic hypothesis, under which the native folded conformation of a protein corresponds to the global minimum of Gibbs free energy . We question this concept and show that the empirical evidence behind the thermodynamic hypothesis of folding is far from strong. Furthermore, physical theory-based approaches to the prediction of protein folds and their folding pathways so far have invariably failed except for some very small proteins, despite decades of intensive theory development and the enormous increase of computer power.

Changes to virus taxonomy and to the International Code of Virus Classification and Nomenclature ratified by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (2021).

This article reports the changes to virus taxonomy approved and ratified by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) in March 2021. The entire ICTV was invited to vote on 290 taxonomic proposals approved by the ICTV Executive Committee at its meeting in October 2020, as well as on the proposed revision of the International Code of Virus Classification and Nomenclature (ICVCN). All proposals and the revision were ratified by an absolute majority of the ICTV members.

Changes to virus taxonomy and the Statutes ratified by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (2020).

This article reports the changes to virus classification and taxonomy approved and ratified by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) in March 2020. The entire ICTV was invited to vote on 206 taxonomic proposals approved by the ICTV Executive Committee at its meeting in July 2019, as well as on the proposed revision of the ICTV Statutes. All proposals and the revision of the Statutes were approved by an absolute majority of the ICTV voting membership.

RNAs That Behave Like Prions.

The term "prion" was originally coined to describe the proteinaceous infectious agents involved in mammalian neurological disorders. More recently, a prion has been defined as a nonchromosomal, protein-based genetic element that is capable of converting the copies of its own benign variant into the prion form, with the new phenotypic effects that can be transmitted through the cytoplasm. Some prions are toxic to the cell, are able to aggregate and/or form amyloid structures, and may be infectious in the wild, but none of those traits are seen as an integral property of all prions.

Correction to: Binomial nomenclature for virus species: a consultation.

The article Binomial nomenclature for virus species: a consultation, written by Stuart G. Siddell, Peter J. Walker, Elliot J.

Measuring similarity between gene interaction profiles.

Background: Gene and protein interaction data are often represented as interaction networks, where nodes stand for genes or gene products and each edge stands for a relationship between a pair of gene nodes. Commonly, that relationship within a pair is specified by high similarity between profiles (vectors) of experimentally defined interactions of each of the two genes with all other genes in the genome; only gene pairs that interact with similar sets of genes are linked by an edge in the network. The tight groups of genes/gene products that work together in a cell can be discovered by the analysis of those complex networks.

Changes to virus taxonomy and the International Code of Virus Classification and Nomenclature ratified by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (2019).

This article reports the changes to virus taxonomy approved and ratified by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) in February 2019. Of note, in addition to seven new virus families, the ICTV has approved, by an absolute majority, the creation of the realm Riboviria, a likely monophyletic group encompassing all viruses with positive-strand, negative-strand and double-strand genomic RNA that use cognate RNA-directed RNA polymerases for replication.

Additional changes to taxonomy ratified in a special vote by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (October 2018).

This article reports the changes to virus taxonomy approved and ratified by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) in October 2018. Of note, the ICTV has approved, by an absolute majority, the creation of additional taxonomical ranks above those recognized previously. A total of 15 ranks (realm, subrealm, kingdom, subkingdom, phylum, subphylum, class, subclass, order, suborder, family, subfamily, genus, subgenus, and species) are now available to encompass the entire spectrum of virus diversity.

Changes to taxonomy and the International Code of Virus Classification and Nomenclature ratified by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (2017).

This article lists the changes to virus taxonomy approved and ratified by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) in March 2017.

50 years of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses: progress and prospects.

We mark the 50th anniversary of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) by presenting a brief history of the organization since its foundation, showing how it has adapted to advancements in our knowledge of virus diversity and the methods used to characterize it. We also outline recent developments, supported by a grant from the Wellcome Trust (UK), that are facilitating substantial changes in the operations of the ICTV and promoting dialogue with the virology community. These developments will generate improved online resources, including a freely available and regularly updated ICTV Virus Taxonomy Report.

Possibility and Challenges of Conversion of Current Virus Species Names to Linnaean Binomials.

Botanical, mycological, zoological, and prokaryotic species names follow the Linnaean format, consisting of an italicized Latinized binomen with a capitalized genus name and a lower case species epithet (e.g., Homo sapiens).

Ratification vote on taxonomic proposals to the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (2016).

This article lists the changes to virus taxonomy approved and ratified by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) in April 2016.Changes to virus taxonomy (the Universal Scheme of Virus Classification of the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses [ICTV]) now take place annually and are the result of a multi-stage process. In accordance with the ICTV Statutes ( http://www.

Prokaryotic genes in eukaryotic genome sequences: when to infer horizontal gene transfer and when to suspect an actual microbe.

Assessment of phylogenetic positions of predicted gene and protein sequences is a routine step in any genome project, useful for validating the species' taxonomic position and for evaluating hypotheses about genome evolution and function. Several recent eukaryotic genome projects have reported multiple gene sequences that were much more similar to homologues in bacteria than to any eukaryotic sequence. In the spirit of the times, horizontal gene transfer from bacteria to eukaryotes has been invoked in some of these cases.