Abbreviations

In addition to universally accepted abbreviations such as DNA and RNA, it is common practice to use abbreviations for virological and technical words in virology. In the Report, we have adopted commonly used abbreviations (e.g. CP for capsid protein and NC for nucleocapsid). These have been approved by the Executive Committee of ICTV for use in the ICTV Report but have no official status. The abbreviations will be used without definition throughout the book, except in a few instances where Study Group conventions (e.g. C in place of CP for capsid protein) dictate different practice. In these instances, abbreviations are defined locally. 

Immunology

CTL

cytotoxic T lymphocyte

CF

complement fixing

HLA

human leukocyte antigen

IgG, IgM etc. 

immunoglobulin G, immunoglobulin M, etc. 

mAb

monoclonal antibody

MHC

major histocomatibility complex

NK cell

natural killer cell

PBMC

peripheral blood mononuclear cell

T cell

T lymphocyte

Doses

EC50

half maximal effective concentration

IC50

half maximal inhibitory concentration

LD50

half maximal lethal dose

TCID50

half maximal tissue culture infective dose

Molecular biology

cDNA

complementary DNA

DNAse

deoxyribonuclease

ds

double stranded

Hel

helicase

m7G

7-methylguanosine (part of the 5′-cap structure of many mRNAs)

mRNA

messenger RNA

Mtr

methyltransferase

5′-NTR, 3′-NTR

5′-nontranslated region, 3′-nontranslated region (use the prime symbol, U+2032)

NES

nuclear export signal

NLS

nuclear localization signal

ORF

open reading frame

Pol

polymerase

Pro

protease

RdRP

RNA-dependent RNA polymerase

RNAse

ribonuclease

ss

single stranded

5′-UTR, 3′-UTR

5′-untranslated region, 3′-untranslated region (use the prime symbol, U+2032)

Organizations

ATCC

American Type Culture Collection

CDC

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

ICTV

International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses

MRC

Medical Research Council (UK)

NIH

National Institutes of Health

WHO

World Health Organization

Techniques

ELISA

enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay

ELISPOT

enzyme-linked immunospot assay

FACS

fluorescence-activated cell sorting

FPLC

fast protein liquid chromatography

GFP

green fluorescent protein

HPLC

high performance liquid chromatography

PAGE

polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis

PCR

polymerase chain reaction

RT-PCR

reverse transcritase-polymerase chain reaction

RACE

rapid amplification of cDNA ends

RFLP

restriction fragment length polymorphism

TLC

thin layer chromatography

Units

aa

amino acid(s)

bp, kbp

base pair(s), kilobase pair(s)

c.f.u. 

colony-forming unit

D

diffusion coefficient

f.f.u. 

focus-forming unit

h

hour(s)

kDa

kilodalton (~10−21g)

min

minutes(s)

m.o.i. 

multiplicity of infection

Mr

relative molar mass

nt

nucleotide(s)

p.f.u. 

plaque-forming unit

Virology

AIDS

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome

CP

capsid/coat protein (unless otherwise defined)

CPE

cytopathic effect

DI

defective interfering

gRNA

genomic RNA

HE

hemagglutinin-esterase

HI

hemagglutination inhibition

IRES

internal ribosome entry site

MP

movement protein

N

nucleoprotein

NC

nucleocapsid

Rep

replication associated protein

RF

replicative form

RI

replicative intermediate

RNP

ribonucleoprotein

RT

reverse transcriptase

sgRNA

subgenomic RNA

(+) strand RNA

positive strand RNA (mRNA sense)

(-) strand RNA

negative strand RNA (non-mRNA sense)

T (e.g. T3)

triangulation number

VPg

genome-linked protein