Virus Database and Online Inquiry System Based on Natural Vectors

Dong, Rui; Zheng, Hui; Tian, Kun; Yau, Shek-Chung; Mao, Weiguang; Yu, Wenping; Yin, Changchuan; Yu, Chenglong; He, Rong Lucy; Yang, Jie; Yau, Stephen ST

Viruses are tiny organisms that may cause a number of diseases in eukaryotes. They are quite diverse and different from other biological entities. Some viruses have RNA genomes and some have DNA genomes. Some viruses have single-stranded genomes, whereas others have multiple-stranded genomes. The structures and replication strategies are also quite different. 1, 2 Due to the high diversity of viruses, the corresponding classification problem is complicated. The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) defined a universal taxonomic scheme for all the viruses. According to the ICTV scheme, viral classification starts at the highest level of order and continues as follows: order, family, subfamily, genus, and species. Another main scheme used for the classification of viruses is the Baltimore classification system. 3 Based on their nucleic acid, strandedness (single-stranded or double-stranded), and methods of replication, viruses are divided into the following 7 groups: dsDNA, ssDNA, dsRNA, ssRNA-RT, (+)ssRNA, (−) ssRNA, and dsDNA-RT.