Family: Chuviridae
Genus: Mivirus
Distinguishing features
Miviruses are primarily distinguished from viruses of other genera in the family based on nucleic acid sequence and organization differences (Di Paola et al., 2022). Members of the genus Mivirus have L protein sequences that are >31% identical to each other.
Genome organization and replication
Miviruses have nonsegmented linear or nonsegmented circular genomes of 9.5–11.4 kb with two to four ORFs encoding a glycoprotein (GP), a large (L) protein with an RNA-directed RNA polymerase (RdRP) domain, a nucleoprotein (NP), and/or proteins of unknown function (Li et al., 2015, Brinkmann et al., 2018, Tokarz et al., 2018, Harvey et al., 2019, Sameroff et al., 2019, Gondard et al., 2020, Chang et al., 2021). The replication cycle of miviruses remains to be elucidated.
Biology
Miviruses have been associated with ixodidan arachnids and hemipteran insects:
- Belostoma flumineum mononega-like virus (BFmlV) has been associated with giant water bugs (belostomatid Belostoma flumineum Say, 1832) in the USA (Chang et al., 2021);
- Bólè tick virus 3 (BTV3) has been associated with ticks (ixodid Hyalomma asiaticum Schülze and Schlottke, 1929) in China (Li et al., 2015);
- brown dog tick mivirus 1 (BDTMV1) has been associated with brown dog ticks (ixodid Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Latreille, 1806)) in Trinidad and Tobago (Sameroff et al., 2019);
- Chāngpíng tick virus 2 (CpTV2) has been associated with ticks (ixodid Dermacentor sp.) in China (Li et al., 2015);
- Chāngpíng tick virus 3 (CpTV3) has been associated with ticks (ixodid Dermacentor sp.) in China (Li et al., 2015);
- Genoa virus (GeV) has been associated with Australian paralysis ticks (ixodid Ixodes holocyclus Neumann, 1899) in Australia (Harvey et al., 2019);
- Karukera tick virus (KtV) has been associated with Asian blue ticks (ixodid Rhipicephalus microplus (Canestrini,1888)) and tropical bont ticks (ixodid Amblyomma variegatum Fabricius, 1794) in Guadeloupe (Gondard et al., 2020);
- lone star tick chuvirus 1 (LSTCV1) has been associated with lone star ticks (ixodid Amblyomma americanum (Linnaeus, 1758)) in the USA (Tokarz et al., 2018);
- Suffolk virus (SFKV) has been associated with deer ticks (ixodid Ixodes scapularis Say, 1821) in the USA (Tokarz et al., 2018);
- Tǎchéng tick virus 5 (TcTV5) has been associated with ticks (ixodid Dermacentor sp.) in China (Li et al., 2015); and
- Wǔhàn tick virus 2 (WhTV2) has been associated with Asian blue ticks (ixodid Rhipicephalus microplus (Canestrini, 1888)) in China (Li et al., 2015).
Unclassified miviruses have been associated with ixodidan (tick) and trombidiform (spider mite) arachnids; decapodan crustaceans (hermit crabs); dipteran (mosquito), hemipteran (leafhopper), and neuropteran (green lacewing) insects; nematodes; and humans.
Species demarcation criteria
Members of different species have amino-acid identities of complete L sequences of <90% (Di Paola et al., 2022).
Related, unclassified viruses
| Virus name | Accession number | Virus abbreviation | Reference |
| Amblyomma dissimile mivirus | MZ502309 | (Sameroff et al., 2021) | |
| Běihǎi hermit crab virus 3 | KX884404 | ||
| Cataloi mivirus | OM405140 | CTMV | (Bratuleanu et al., 2022) |
| Héběi mivirus 1 | OP628521 | (Ni et al., 2023, Yang et al., 2023) | |
| Héběi mivirus 2 | MZ244263 | ||
| Héběi mivirus 3 | MZ244270* | (Yang et al., 2023) | |
| Lesnoe mivirus | OP628511 | (Ni et al., 2023) | |
| Liman tick virus | MN542376* | (Zakham et al., 2021) | |
| mivirus sp. Isolate TIGMIC_1 | OP628551 | (Ni et al., 2023) | |
| mivirus sp. Isolate TIGMIC_2 | OP628553 | (Ni et al., 2023) | |
| mivirus sp. Strain GD-2020 | OM240631 | (Guo et al., 2022) | |
| Nuòmǐn virus | MW029970 | NOMV | (Quan et al., 2020) |
| Paju tick chuvirus | (Pérez-Sautu et al., 2021) | ||
| Panonychus citri mivirus | MN745091 | (Niu et al., 2020) | |
| Shuāngào lacewing virus | KM817613* | (Li et al., 2015) | |
| Sìchuān mosquito mivirus | MZ556271 | (Zhao et al., 2022) | |
| Tetranychus urticae mivirus | MN204570 | (Niu et al., 2019) | |
| Turkana chu-like virus | MZ078292* | (Langat et al., 2021) | |
| Wēnlǐng crustacean virus 13 | KX884453; KX884454 | (Shi et al., 2016) | |
| Wǔhàn mivirus | OP628554 | (Ni et al., 2023, Yang et al., 2023) | |
| Xīnjiāng mivirus 1 | MZ244269 | ||
| Xīnzhōu nematode virus 5 | KX884461* | (Shi et al., 2016) | |
| Yīchūn mivirus | ON408184 | (Liu et al., 2022) | |
| Yúnnán mivirus 1 | MH814982 | YN-MV1 | (Shi et al., 2021) |
Virus names and virus abbreviations are not official ICTV designations.
* Incomplete genome