Family: Picornaviridae

Genus: Potamipivirus

Distinguishing features

The genus is distinguished on the basis of genetic characters. 

Virion

Morphology

No surface morphology of the icosahedral capsid is visible by EM. 

Nucleic acid

Genome (Fichtner et al., 2013)( M.A. Hahn and N.M. Dheilly, unpublished): c. 7,496 nt (partial) (5′-UTR: >488 nt; ORF: 6,777 nt; 3′-UTR: 231 nt). The location of the cre has not been identified. 

Genome organization and replication

Genome layout:

VPg+5′-UTR^IRES-[1AB-1C-1D-2A1^npgp/2A2^H-box/NC-2B-2C/3A-3B-3C-3D]-3′-UTR-poly(A)

The deduced polyprotein is of 2,259 aa. There is no L protein. The 1AB protein remains uncleaved. The 2A1 protein has an NPG↓P motif. The 2A2 protein has an H-box/NC sequence motif. 

Biology

Eel picornavirus (EPV) was isolated from a common eel (Anguilla anguilla) in Lake Constance on the river Rhine. EPV can be propagated in eel kidney 1 (EK-1) cells. It is pathogenic in experimentally infected glass eels and induces a high mortality. RNA of threespine stipleback picornavirus was detected in samples of Gasterosteus aculeatus from Alaska, USA (M.A. Hahn and N.M. Dheilly, unpublished). 

Derivation of names

Potamipivirus: from Greek potamos, 'river', and picornavirus

Species demarcation criteria

Members of a species of the genus Potamipivirus:

• are less than 30% divergent in polyprotein aa sequence
• are less than 30% divergent in P1 aa sequence
• are less than 30% divergent in 2C+3CD aa sequence
• share a common genome organization

Related, unclassified viruses

Virus names and virus abbreviations are not official ICTV designations.