Family: Paramyxoviridae

Genus: Scoliodonvirus

Distinguishing features

The only member of Scoliodon scoliodonvirus, the single species in the genus is Wēnzhōu pacific spadenose shark paramyxovirus which is known only from a metagenomics sequence of 21,523 nt (MG600057) obtained from a sample containing the liver and gut of a Pacific spadenose shark (Scoliodon macrorhynchos (Bleeker 1852)) (Shi et al., 2018). The L protein amino acid sequence is phylogenetically distinct from that of all other known paramyxoviruses (Figure 3. Paramxyoviridae). 

Virion

Virions are unknown. 

Genome organization and replication

The genome contains ORFs encoding a presumed nucleoprotein (436 aa), five hypothetical proteins (124, 865, 348, 389 and 347 aa), a presumed fusion protein (599 aa), a putative glycoprotein (591 aa), a putative haemagglutinin-neuraminidase (611 aa) and a presumed L protein (2164 aa), in that order.

Biology

The only known sequence was obtained from obtained from a sample containing the liver and gut of a Pacific spadenose shark (Scoliodon macrorhynchos (Bleeker 1852)) caught in the Eastern China Sea. It is unclear whether the viral sequence represents an actual viral isolate, nor whether the scoliodonus shark from which the viral sequence was obtained represents the natural host of this putative virus.