Promotion of order Bunyavirales to class Bunyaviricetes to accommodate a rapidly increasing number of related polyploviricotine viruses

• Published in: Journal of virology Vol. 98; no. 10; p. e0106924
• Main Authors: Kuhn, Jens H., Brown, Katherine, Adkins, Scott, de la Torre, Juan Carlos, Digiaro, Michele, Ergünay, Koray, Firth, Andrew E., Hughes, Holly R., Junglen, Sandra, Lambert, Amy J., Maes, Piet, Marklewitz, Marco, Palacios, Gustavo, Sasaya (笹谷孝英), Takahide, Shi (施莽), Mang, Zhang (张永振), Yong-Zhen, Wolf, Yuri I., Turina, Massimo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Society for Microbiology 22.10.2024
• Subjects: Animals; Arthropods - virology; Bunyaviridae - classification; Bunyaviridae - genetics; Commentary; Evolution, Molecular; Genome, Viral; Humans; Phylogeny; RNA, Viral - genetics; Virology; ellioviral; Orthornavirae; Tulasviridae; Fimoviridae; bunyaviral; Riboviria; arenavirus; phenuivirus; arenavirid; RdRp; Leishbuviridae; phenuivirid; Cruliviridae; Elliovirales; hareaviral; Mypoviridae; Phenuiviridae; RNA-dependent RNA polymerase; Hareavirales; tulasvirid; Peribunyaviridae; polyploviricotine; crulivirid; fimovirid; virus nomenclature; bunyavirus; konkovirid; fimovirus; bunyaviricete; negarnaviricot; virus classification; Arenaviridae; ICTV; ribovirian; mypovirid; phasmavirid; Nairoviridae; discovirid; Polyploviricotina; Tospoviridae; peribunyavirid; Konkoviridae; peribunyavirus; Discoviridae; Bunyaviricetes; megaclassification; tospovirus; International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses; Ellioviricetes; virus taxonomy; tospovirid; RNA-directed RNA polymerase; megataxonomy; nairovirus; hantavirus; hantavirid; Hantaviridae; Negarnaviricota; wupedevirid; Phasmaviridae; Bunyavirales; Wupedeviridae; leishbuvirid; nairovirid
• ISSN: 0022-538X; 1098-5514; 1098-5514
• DOI: 10.1128/jvi.01069-24

Prior to 2017, the family included five genera of arthropod and rodent viruses with tri-segmented negative-sense RNA genomes related to the Bunyamwera virus. In 2017, the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) promoted the family to order and subsequently greatly expanded its composition by adding multiple families for non-segmented to polysegmented viruses of animals, fungi, plants, and protists. The continued and accelerated discovery of bunyavirals highlighted that an order would not suffice to depict the evolutionary relationships of these viruses. Thus, in April 2024, the order was promoted to class . This class currently includes two major orders, ( , , , , , , and ) and ( , , , , , , , and ), for hundreds of viruses, many of which are pathogenic for humans and other animals, plants, and fungi.