Amalgaviridae is a family of double-stranded RNA viruses. Member viruses infect plants and are transmitted vertically via seeds.[1] The name derives from amalgam (blend, mix) which refers to amalgaviruses possessing characteristics of both partitiviruses and totiviruses.[1][2] There are ten species in the family.[3]
| Amalgaviridae | |
|---|---|
Virus classification  | |
| (unranked): | Virus |
| Realm: | Riboviria |
| Kingdom: | Orthornavirae |
| Phylum: | Pisuviricota |
| Class: | Duplopiviricetes |
| Order: | Durnavirales |
| Family: | Amalgaviridae |
| Genera | |
| |
Genome
Amalgavirus genomes are monopartite and about 3.5 kilobases in length.[2][4] They have two partially overlapping open reading frames which encode the RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) and a putative capsid protein.[2][5]
Evolution
It has been suggested that amalgaviruses have evolved via recombination between viruses with double-stranded and negative-strand RNA genomes.[6] Phylogenetic analysis indicates that the amalgavirus RdRp forms a sister clade to the corresponding RdRp protein of partitiviruses (Partitiviridae) which have segmented (bipartite) dsRNA genomes and infect plants, fungi and protists.[1][2][4][6] By contrast, the putative capsid protein of amalgaviruses is homologous to the nucleocapsid proteins of negative-strand RNA viruses of the genera Phlebovirus (Bunyaviridae) and Tenuivirus.[6]
Taxonomy
The family Amalgaviridae has two genera and ten species:[3]
- Allium cepa amalgavirus 1
- Allium cepa amalgavirus 2
- Blueberry latent virus[1]
- Rhododendron virus A[4]
- Southern tomato virus[2]
- Spinach amalgavirus 1
- Vicia cryptic virus M[5]
- Zoostera marina amalgavirus 1
- Zoostera marina amalgavirus 2
Zybavirus
- ''Zygosaccharomyces bailii virus Z
References
