Notes on Family: Megabirnaviridae

icosahedra

Contents

• Members of this Family
• General Description
• Morphology
• Genome
• Genera in the Family
• All Known Sequences
• Curated Sequences

General Description

This family of bipartite dsRNA viruses of fungi has a much larger (mega) genome (about 16 kbp) than members of the (vertebrate virus) families Birnaviridae (about 6 kbp) or Picobirnaviridae (about 4 kbp). Other mycoviruses with bipartite ds RNA genomes in the genus Partitivirus have smaller virions and much smaller genomes (usually less than 4 kbp).

Morphology

Virions are isometric (icosahedral) and about 50 nm in diameter.

Genomen

Bipartite dsRNA with segments of about 9 and 7 kbp. There are two ORFs predicted on each RNA segment.

Genera in the Family

There is currently only one genus:

• Megabirnavirus