Recent revisions of the rules of virus classification and nomenclature
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Arch Virol 141/12 (1996)
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Recent revisions of the rules of virus classification and nomenclature M. A. Mayo Scottish Crop ResearchInstitute, Invergowrie, Dundee, U,K.
The classification and nomenclature of viruses is the responsibility of the International Committee for the Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV). This body comprises National Members, appointed by the member virological societies of the International Union of Microbiological Societies (IUMS), Life Members, appointed by vote at Plenary Sessions, and members of the ICTV Executive Committee. ICTV is controlled by Statutes approved by the Virology Division of IUMS and its decisions are guided by a set of Rules. These were modified at the recent Xth International Congress of Virology in Jerusalem by the Plenary, Session of ICTV. The version in force until August 1996 was as in Murphy et al. [4] and was developed from the previous Rules (Francki et al. [1]) as described by Mayo and Murphy [3]. The new version of the Rules has been designated as a Code, in line with how the nomenclature of other biological organisms is controlled (Greuter et al. [2]). The Code is printed below with comments in parentheses to indicate how the new Rules are related to those in the previous version. A major change is the provision of a section of explanatory notes to assist users of the Rules. The Notes, and to some extent the Rules, are subject to refinement in the face of unexpected difficulties in their application. The author, or any other member of the Executive Committee of ICTV, would welcome comment from the virological community to assist with this refinement process. The international code of virus classification and nomenclature The activities of the International Committee for the Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) are governed by Statutes agreed with the Virology Division of the International Union of Microbiological Societies. The Statutes state that the objectives of the ICTV are (1) to develop an internationally agreed taxonomy for viruses, (2) to develop internationally agreed names for virus taxa, including species and subviral agents, (3) to communicate taxonomic decisions to the international community of virologists, and (4) to maintain an index of virus names. The Statutes also state that classification and nomenclature will be subject to rules. These rules are set out in this Code. General rules
1. Virus classification and nomenclature shall be international and shall be universally applied to all viruses.
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2. The universal virus classification system shall employ the hierarchical levels of Order, Family, Subfamily, Genus, and Species (see Note 1). 3. The ICTV is not responsible for classification and nomenclature of virus taxa below the rank of species. The classification and naming of serotypes, genotypes, strains, variants and isolates of virus species is the responsibility of acknowledged international specialist groups (see Note 2). 4. Artificially created viruses and laboratory hybrid viruses will not be given taxonom
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