Family: Alloherpesviridae (Interim Report)
This is a summary page created by the ICTV Report Editors using information from associated Taxonomic Proposals and the Master Species List.
Edited by: Arvind Varsani, Paola K. Vaz and Thomas B. Waltzek
Posted: November 2024
Summary
The family Alloherpesviridae includes dsDNA viruses of vertebrates (Table 1 Alloherpesviridae). The family Alloherpesviridae was established in 2008 (Master Species List #24).
Table 1 Alloherpesviridae. Characteristics of members of the family Alloherpesviridae.
| Characteristic | Description |
| Example | channel catfish virus; ictalurid herpesvirus 1 (M75136), species Ictavirus ictaluridallo1, genus Ictavirus |
| Virion | Enveloped, pleomorphic, mostly spherical particles of 150–200 nm diameter with an icosahedral capsid (Figure 1 Alloherpesviridae) |
| Genome | dsDNA of 134.2–295.2 kbp (Figure 2 Alloherpesviridae) |
| Replication | Nuclear; lytic and latent infections: DNA-templated transcription is temporally co-ordinated (immediate early: early, late gene expression) |
| Translation | mRNAs generally encode single proteins and most are not spliced (exceptions include the large subunit of the terminase and the catalytic subunit of the DNA polymerase) |
| Host range | Vertebrates (fish and amphibians) |
| Taxonomy | Realm Duplodnaviria, kingdom Heunggongvirae, phylum Peploviricota, class Herviviricetes, order Herpesvirales: 4 genera, 13 species (Figure 3 Alloherpesviridae) |
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| Figure 1 Alloherpesviridae. (Left) Electron micrograph of Koi herpesvirus-T. Image from Figure 1 of Bergmann SM, Jin Y, Franzke K, Grunow B, Wang Q, Klafack S. Koi herpesvirus (KHV) and KHV disease (KHVD) - a recently updated overview. J Appl Microbiol. 2020 Jul;129(1):98-103. (Right) Schematic of virion Schematic of virion (image from ViralZone (viralzone.expasy.org), under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, credit: SwissBioPics). |
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| Figure 2 Alloherpesviridae. Genome organisation of channel catfish virus, a member of the family Alloherpesviridae. Boxes indicate open reading frames as annotated on GenBank accession M75136. |
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| Figure 3 Alloherpesviridae. Relationships of the taxa connected to the family Alloherpesviridae. Labels in the column to the right are species names. |
Derivation of names
Alloherpesviridae: from the Ancient Greek ἄλλος (állos), meaning "other" and ἕρπης (hérpō), which is related to the meaning "to creep", referring to spreading blisters; the suffix -viridae for family taxa
Batravirus: shortening of Batrachovirus, from the Greek batrachos, meaning “frog”
Cyvirus: shortening of Cyprinivirus, from the Latin cyprinus, meaning “carp”
Ictavirus: shortening of Ictalurivirus, referring to the Ictaluridae (a family of catfish) from the Latin icatalurus meaning “fish cat”
Salmovirus: shortening of salmonivirus, referring to the Salmonidae (a family of ray-finned fish) from the Latin salmō, meaning salmon