Family: Nairoviridae
Genus: Shaspivirus
Distinguishing features
Shāyáng spider virus 1 (SySV-1) is the only known shaspivirus and was detected in spiders.
Virion
Virions are unknown
Nucleic acid
Based on sequence homology, shaspiviruses have three negative-sense single-stranded RNA segments (Li et al., 2015).
Genome organization and replication
The S segment encodes the nucleoprotein (N), the M segment encodes the glycoprotein precursor (GPC), and the L segment encodes the large protein (L) containing an RdRP domain (Figure 1. Shaspivirus).
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Figure 1. Shaspivirus. Schematic representation of shaspivirus genome organization. The 5′- and 3′-ends of each segment (S, M, and L) are, by analogy to other nairoviruses, predicted to be complementary at their termini (UTR), likely promoting the formation of circular ribonucleoprotein complexes within the virion. |
Biology
The original genome sequence of SySV-1 was obtained from brown sailor spiders (Neoscona nautica) (Li et al., 2015). Since no replication competent isolate was obtained, the virus biology is unknown.
Derivation of names
Shaspivirus: derived from Shāyáng spider virus 1 and virus, suffix for a genus.
Species demarcation criteria
The genus currently only includes a single species.