Trichomonasvirus: a new genus of protozoan viruses in the family Totiviridae

• Published in: Archives of virology Vol. 156; no. 1; pp. 171 - 179
• Main Authors: Goodman, Russell P., Ghabrial, Said A., Fichorova, Raina N., Nibert, Max L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Vienna Springer Vienna 01.01.2011; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; Base Sequence; Biological and medical sciences; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Fungi; Gene Expression Regulation, Viral; Genome, Viral; Genomes; Giardia; Infections; Infectious Diseases; Leishmania; Medical Microbiology; Microbiology; Miscellaneous; Molecular Sequence Data; Parasites; Phylogenetics; Phylogeny; Proteins; Protozoa; RNA polymerase; Sexually transmitted diseases; STD; Totiviridae; Totiviridae - classification; Totiviridae - genetics; Trichomonas vaginalis; Trichomonas vaginalis - virology; Trichomonas vaginalis virus; Viral Proteins - genetics; Viral Proteins - metabolism; Virology; Virology Division News; Viruses; United States > US; Proteinase Expression; Sexually Transmitted Infection; Fungal Virus; Capsid Protein; Trichomoniasis; Virus; New genus; Totiviridae
• ISSN: 0304-8608; 1432-8798
• DOI: 10.1007/s00705-010-0832-8

The family Totiviridae includes a number of viruses with monosegmented dsRNA genomes and isometric virions that infect either fungi or a number of medically important protozoan parasites such as Leishmania and Giardia . A new genus, Trichomonasvirus , was recently approved for this family. Its name is based on the genus of its host organism, Trichomonas vaginalis , a protozoan parasite that colonizes the human genitourinary mucosa and is the most common non-viral sexually transmitted infection in the world. The type species of this new genus is Trichomonas vaginalis virus 1 . Distinguishing characteristics of the new genus include infection of a human sexually transmitted parasite, stable mixed infection with more than one distinct Trichomonasvirus species, and sequence-based phylogenetic divergence that distinguishes it from all other family members.