Subfamily: Entomopoxvirinae

Unassigned species

Distinguishing features

The entomopoxvirus species, Diachasmimorpha entomopoxvirus is unassigned to a genus. The exemplar virus of this species (Diachasmimorpha entomopoxvirus, DIEV) infects the parasitoid wasp Diachasmimorpha longicaudata. DIEV is the first poxvirus considered to be a symbiont. It retains its pathogenic properties in the host, but appears to have lost its ability to be transmitted between its host, the parasitized Anastrepha suspensa fruit fly.

Virion

Virions are brick-shaped, about 320×230×110 nm in size, with two lateral bodies and a biconcave core

Genome organization and replication

The dsDNA genome is approximately 253 kbp, encoding a putative 184 genes; the G + C content is 30%. The coding density (genes per kbp) is lower than generally found in other members of the family Poxviridae and the G + C content is much higher than normally found in other members of the subfamily Entomopoxvirinae. The inverted terminal repeats are 17 kbp. Only 45 of the 49 genes considered to form the poxvirus conserved gene set are found in the genome. There is a general lack of synteny between the 45 DIEV poxvirus core genes and those in viruses from members of the other entomopoxvirus genera, but some synteny is found in this region with Yalta virus, an unclassified pox-like virus detected in Drosophila melanogaster, another dipteran fruit fly host. Phylogenetic analyses using 44 conserved core genes suggests a relatively distant relationship with other entomopoxviruses, possibly bridging the gap between the other three entomopoxvirus genera (for which there is sequence data) and the chordopoxviruses.

Species demarcation criteria

There is only one unassigned species in the subfamily.