Name: David Dunigan

Email: ddunigan2@unl.edu

Author: David D. Dunigan1

Author affiliation: 1. Nebraska Center for Virology & Department of Plant Pathology, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, USA Presenting author

Abstract title: The Black Holes of Virus Taxonomy

Absstract:

All known viruses were evaluated with respect to three fundamental characteristics and determined that there are certain predicted viruses not observed. Fundamental characteristics used in developing taxonomic schemes in virology can be: 1) biological factors (including host range, transmission mechanism, and host response), 2) organization and structure of the genome (including nucleic acid type, genome strandedness, genome polarity, and posttranscriptional modifications), and 3) particle morphology (including capsid geometry, and envelope formation). By analyzing expanded sets of characters, it is possible to demonstrate that there are character states that may represent i) extinct viruses, ii) cryptic viruses, or iii) evolutionary boundaries to viruses. For example, there are no reported viruses where an encapsidated double-stranded genome has helical geometry. This observation is independent of host range, and suggests there may be structural and/or functional restrictions in virus replication resulting in a taxonomic BLACK HOLE. This paper will discuss the types of observed taxonomic black holes and suggest why these observations may be of interest to viral ecologists.