Virology division news : Taxonomic proposals on the web: New ICTV consultative procedures

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Taxonomic proposals on the web: New ICTV consultative procedures M. A. Mayo1 , C. M. Fauquet2 , and J. Maniloff3 1 Scottish

Crop Research Institute, Invergowrie, Dundee, U.K. Plant Science Center, University of Missouri St Louis, St Louis, Missouri, U.S.A. 3 University of Rochester, School of Medicine and Dentistry, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Rochester, New York, U.S.A. 2 ILTAB/Danforth

Received December 1, 2002; accepted January 10, 2003 c Springer-Verlag 2003 Published online March 3, 2003 

The procedures by which virus taxonomy is modified to accommodate new data and new ideas has evolved over the decades since the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) was established. The current procedure is specified in the Statutes [1]. In practice this has meant that proposals to change virus taxonomy and nomenclature are presented to the ICTV Executive Committee (EC), usually, but not exclusively, by the appropriate Subcommittee Chair. The proposals are then discussed by the EC and, either immediately or after further consultation with the proposers, proposals (including modifications in some cases) that are acceptable are recommended to the full ICTV membership, who vote on their formal acceptance. The EC has recently experimented with use of the ICTVnet (a network that links all those involved in ICTV work) to allow more extensive consideration of proposals by EC members prior to an EC meeting. Based on this experience, the EC decided to extend this procedure to allow a wider consultation with the virology community than was possible previously. This note describes the new EC procedure for considering taxonomic proposals. The new procedure Figure 1 shows this procedure in a diagrammatic form. Taxonomic proposals are now considered by the EC at two meetings. EC Meeting 1 is preceded by a Pre-proposal Stage, when the proposal is put on ICTVnet (www.danforthcenter.org/ILTAB/ICTVnet) for ICTV members to comment. The proposal is discussed at an EC meeting and the EC decides if the proposal can go forward unmodified or if it recommends changes. The proposers next receive a response from the EC and are given time to modify the proposal, if they wish to do so. The proposal then moves to a Public Scrutiny Stage in which it is posted on the ICTVnet on a special ICTV Taxonomic Proposal Page that will be open to the public at large.

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Fig. 1. Diagram showing the stages between making a taxonomic proposal and a taxonomic decision, the participants in the process and the approximate durations of the stages

After an interval, usually of 6 months, the proposers have a second opportunity to modify the proposal. It is then, modified or not, put on the agenda of the following EC meeting as a formal taxonomic proposal along with all the comments received. In this Proposal Stage, the taxonomic changes proposed are discussed, together with whatever comments have been

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submitted via the ICTVnet, and an EC vote is taken.After a favourable EC decision, the p