Aspiviridae


Aspiviridae, formerly Ophioviridae is a family of viruses characterized by an elongated and highly and flexible nucleocapsid with helical symmetry. It is a monotypic taxon containing only one genus, Ophiovirus. Aspiviridae is also the only family in the order Serpentovirales, which in turn is the only order in the class Milneviricetes.
The name Aspiviridae derives from the Latin aspis, referring to the shape, along with the suffix for a virus family -viridae. Likewise Serpentovirales is from "serpent" with -virales, the suffix for a virus order. Milneviricetes is in honor of Robert G. Milne, the last author on the first paper describing ophioviruses.
The protein capsid is non-enveloped and has a constant diameter of 1500–2500 nm and a width of 3 nm, or 9 nm. The capsids form kinked circles, which can collapse to form linear duplex structures, much like a spring.
The entire genome is 11000–12000 nucleotides long.

Taxonomy

The family has one genus, Ophiovirus, which has seven recognized species. Members of both the family and the genus are referred to as ophioviruses.