Subfamily: Densovirinae
Genus: Brevidensovirus
Distinguishing features
Viruses in this genus can infect a wide range of mosquitos, but natural infection appears confined to a single host species. They have small heterotelomeric genomes of around 4 kb, encapsidate predominantly (85%) negative-sense DNA, and lack a recognizable PLA2 domain. They share a deep branch of the phylogenetic tree with members of two other parvovirus genera, Hepandensovirus and Penstyldensovirus, whose members are only known to infect shrimp (Figures 5. Parvoviridae and 6A. Parvoviridae).
Virion
See discussion under family description.
Genome organization and replication
As shown in Figure 3. Parvoviridae, the short (~4 kb) heterotelomeric genomes of the brevidensoviruses are capped by small disparate hairpin termini of ~146 nt and ~164 nt at the left and right ends. Transcription is monosense, with overlapping promoters at map units 7 and 7.5, giving rise to mRNAs encoding NS1 and NS2, and another at map unit 60 that accesses the exceptionally short capsid protein sequence that is characteristic of these viruses (Boublik et al., 1994, Pham et al., 2013a).
Biology
See discussion under family description.
Species demarcation criteria
Viruses within a species are monophyletic and encode replication initiator proteins (called NS1 or Rep1, 68, or 78) that show >85% amino acid sequence identity.