Skip to main content
ARS Home » Southeast Area » Gainesville, Florida » Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology » Imported Fire Ant and Household Insects Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #335757
Research Project: Invasive Ant Biology and Control

Location: Imported Fire Ant and Household Insects Research

Title: ICTV virus taxonomy profile: iflaviridae

Author
item Valles, Steven
item Chen, Yanping - Judy
item FIRTH, ANDREW - University Of Cambridge
item GUERIN, DIEGO - University Of Basque Country
item HASHIMOTO, YOSHIFUMI - Protein Sciences Corporation
item HERRERO, SALVADOR - University Of Valencia
item DE MIRANDA, JOACHIM - Swedish University Of Agricultural Sciences
item RYABOV, EURGENE - University Of Warwick

Submitted to: Journal of General Virology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/16/2017
Publication Date: 5/22/2017
Citation: Valles, S.M., Chen, Y., Firth, A.E., Guerin, D.M., Hashimoto, Y., Herrero, S., De Miranda, J., Ryabov, E. 2017. ICTV virus taxonomy profile: iflaviridae. Journal of General Virology. 98:527-528. doi:10.1099/jgv.0.000757.

Interpretive Summary: Next generation sequencing and metagenomics have vastly accelerated the discovery of new viruses, which, unfortunately, has created a backlog of unclassified viruses. The International Committee on the Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) is charged with assigning and maintaining a universal virus taxonomy. Scientists (and members of the ICTV) at the USDA-ARS Center for Medical, Agricultural and Veterinary Entomology (CMAVE, Gainesville, FL), Bee Research Lab (Beltsville, MD), University of Cambridge, (Cambridge, UK), University of the Basque Country (Leioa, Spain), Protein Sciences Corporation (Meriden, CT), University of Valencia (Burjassot, Spain), University of Warwick (Coventry, UK), and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (Uppsala, Sweden), have completed a review and summary of viruses in the Iflaviridae family. Members of this virus family are significant to the agricultural community because they harm beneficial insects (e.g., honeybees) or may be used as natural enemies of insect pests (e.g., fire ants). This review brings the taxonomy of the Iflaviridae up-to-date for the scientific community.

Technical Abstract: Iflaviridae is a family of small non-enveloped viruses with RNA genomes of approximately 9-11 kilobases in length. All members infect arthropod hosts with the majority infecting insects. Beneficial and pest insects serve as hosts and infections can be symptomless (Nilaparvata lugens honeydew virus 1), cause developmental abnormalities (Deformed wing virus, Varroa destructor virus 1, Sacbrood virus), behavioral changes (Deformed wing virus, Varroa destructor virus 1, Slow bee paralysis virus, Sacbrood virus) and premature mortality (Deformed wing virus, Varroa destructor virus 1, Slow bee paralysis virus, Infectious flacherie virus, Sacbrood virus) (van Oers 2010).