TY - JOUR
T1 - What is a virus species? Radical pluralism in viral taxonomy
AU - Morgan, Gregory J.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2016/10/1
Y1 - 2016/10/1
N2 - Early attempts in the 1960s at constructing a classification scheme for viruses were phenetic and focused on structural properties of the virion. Over time, the International Committee on the Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) has refined its definition of a virus species to include an appeal to evolutionary history. The current ICTV definition defines a viral species in terms of monophyly. The existence of prolific horizontal genetic transfer (HGT) among various groups of viruses presents a challenge to this definition. I argue that the proper response to this mode of evolution is to allow for radical pluralism. Some viruses can be members of more than one species; others don't form species at all and should be classified using new reticulate categories.
AB - Early attempts in the 1960s at constructing a classification scheme for viruses were phenetic and focused on structural properties of the virion. Over time, the International Committee on the Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) has refined its definition of a virus species to include an appeal to evolutionary history. The current ICTV definition defines a viral species in terms of monophyly. The existence of prolific horizontal genetic transfer (HGT) among various groups of viruses presents a challenge to this definition. I argue that the proper response to this mode of evolution is to allow for radical pluralism. Some viruses can be members of more than one species; others don't form species at all and should be classified using new reticulate categories.
KW - Horizontal gene transfer
KW - ICTV
KW - Mosaic genomes
KW - Radical pluralism
KW - Viral species
KW - Viral taxonomy
KW - Virus classification
KW - Virus species
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U2 - 10.1016/j.shpsc.2016.02.009
DO - 10.1016/j.shpsc.2016.02.009
M3 - Article
C2 - 26994934
AN - SCOPUS:84961182666
SN - 1369-8486
VL - 59
SP - 64
EP - 70
JO - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C :Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences
JF - Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C :Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences
ER -