Notes on Family: Picobirnaviridae
icosahedra
Contents
General Description
This family was created to accommodate animal virus species that were previously classified in the family
Birnaviridae because of their bipartite dsRNA genomes. However, the picobirnaviruses have smaller particles and smaller genome segments than the birnaviruses. There are no sequence similarities between the two groups and the picobirnaviruses have a different type of RNA polymerase. Picobirnaviruses infect mammals, whereas the only known vertebrate hosts of birnaviruses are fish and birds. The name is derived from the Spanish
pico (=small) with birna for
bipartite
RNA.
Morphology
Virions isometric (icosahedral), not enveloped, 35-40 nm in diameter.
Genomen
Bipartite double-stranded RNA totalling 4-4.5 kb. The coat protein is encoded by the second ORF of the larger segment and the polymerase by the only ORF on the smaller segment.
Genera in the Family
There is currently only one genus: