Varidnaviria

Varidnaviria
A ribbon diagram of the DJR-MCP of Pseudoalteromonas virus PM2, with the two jelly roll folds colored in red and blue
Virus classification Edit this classification
(unranked): Virus
Realm: Varidnaviria
Subtaxa

See text

Synonyms[1][2]
  • Non-tailed dsDNA viruses
  • Tailless dsDNA viruses[note 1]

Varidnaviria is a realm of viruses that includes all DNA viruses that encode major capsid proteins that contain a vertical jelly roll fold. The major capsid proteins (MCP) form into pseudohexameric subunits of the viral capsid, which stores the viral deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), and are perpendicular, or vertical, to the surface of the capsid. Apart from this, viruses in the realm also share many other characteristics, such as minor capsid proteins (mCP) with the vertical jelly roll fold, an ATPase that packages viral DNA into the capsid, and a DNA polymerase that replicates the viral genome.

Varidnaviria was established in 2019 based on the shared characteristics of the viruses in the realm. There are two groups of viruses in Varidnaviria: viruses that have a double vertical jelly roll (DJR) folds in the MCP, assigned to the kingdom Bamfordvirae, and viruses that have a single vertical jelly roll (SJR) fold in the MCP, assigned to the kingdom Helvetiavirae. The DJR-MCP lineage is thought to be descended from the SJR-MCP lineage via a gene fusion event, and the SJR-MCP shows a close relation to nucleoplasmins, pointing to a possible origin of the realm's jelly roll fold MCP. Most identified eukaryotic DNA viruses belong to Varidnaviria.

Marine viruses in the realm are highly abundant worldwide and are important in marine ecology. Many animal viruses in the realm are associated with disease, including adenoviruses, poxviruses, and the African swine fever virus. Poxviruses have been prominent in the history of medicine, especially smallpox, caused by Variola virus, which was the target of the first vaccine and which later became the first disease eradicated. The realm also notably includes giant viruses that are physically larger and contain a much larger number of genes than typical viruses.


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  1. ^ Kauffman KM, Hussain FA, Yang J, Arevalo P, Brown JM, Chang WK, VanInsberghe D, Elsherbini J, Sharma RS, Cutler MB, Kelly L, Polz MF (1 February 2018). "A Major Lineage of Non-Tailed dsDNA Viruses as Unrecognized Killers of Marine Bacteria". Nature. 554 (7690): 118–122. Bibcode:2018Natur.554..118K. doi:10.1038/nature25474. PMID 29364876. S2CID 4462007.
  2. ^ Koonin EV, Dolja VV, Krupovic M, Varsani A, Wolf YI, Yutin N, Zerbini M, Kuhn JH (18 October 2019). "Create a megataxonomic framework, filling all principal taxonomic ranks, for DNA viruses encoding vertical jelly roll-type major capsid proteins" (docx). International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses. Retrieved 10 June 2020.

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