Related Experiment Video
Updated: Sep 20, 2025

Evaluation of a Universal Nested Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction for the Detection of Lyssaviruses
Published on: May 2, 2019
Revised Taxonomy of Rhabdoviruses Infecting Fish and Marine Mammals
Peter J Walker1, Laurent Bigarré2, Gael Kurath3
1School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, The University of Queensland, St. Lucia, QLD 4067, Australia.
Abstract:
The Rhabdoviridae is a large family of negative-sense (-) RNA viruses that includes important pathogens of ray-finned fish and marine mammals. As for all viruses, the taxonomic assignment of rhabdoviruses occurs through a process implemented by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV). A recent revision of taxonomy conducted in conjunction with the ICTV Rhabdoviridae Study Group has resulted in the establishment of three new subfamilies (Alpharhabdovirinae, Betarhabdovirinae, and Gammarhabdovirinae) within the Rhabdoviridae, as well as three new genera (Cetarhavirus, Siniperhavirus, and Scophrhavirus) and seven new species for viruses infecting fish or marine mammals. All rhabdovirus species have also now been named or renamed to comply with the binomial format adopted by the ICTV in 2021, comprising the genus name followed by a species epithet. Phylogenetic analyses of L protein (RNA-dependent RNA polymerase) sequences of (-) RNA viruses indicate that members of the genus Novirhabdovirus (subfamily Gammarhabdovirinae) do not cluster within the Rhabdoviridae, suggesting the need for a review of their current classification.
Related Concept Videos
Retroviruses
Taxonomy
Hierarchy of Taxonomy
The hierarchy that Carolus Linnaeus first...
Modern Molecular Taxonomy
Applications of Molecular Taxonomy
Retrovirus Life Cycles

