Van Regenmortel M H V
Ecole Supérieure de Biotechnologie de Strasbourg, CNRS, Boulevard Sebastien Brandt, 67400 ILLKIRCH Cedex 2, France.
Infect Genet Evol. 2007 Jan;7(1):133-44. doi: 10.1016/j.meegid.2006.04.002. Epub 2006 May 19.
The basic concepts used in virus classification are analyzed. A clear distinction is drawn between viruses that are real, concrete objects studied by virologists and virus species that are man-made taxonomic constructions that exist only in the mind. Classical views regarding the nature of biological species are reviewed and the concept of species used in virology is explained. The use of pair-wise sequence comparisons between the members of a virus family for delineating species and genera is reviewed. The difference between the process of virus identification using one or a few diagnostic properties and the process of creating virus taxa using a combination of many properties is emphasized. The names of virus species in current use are discussed as well as a binomial system that may be introduced in the future.
分析了病毒分类中使用的基本概念。病毒学家所研究的真实、具体的病毒对象与仅存在于人们脑海中的人为分类结构的病毒物种之间有明确区分。回顾了关于生物物种本质的经典观点，并解释了病毒学中使用的物种概念。综述了利用病毒科成员之间的成对序列比较来划分物种和属的方法。强调了使用一种或几种诊断特性进行病毒鉴定的过程与使用多种特性组合创建病毒分类单元的过程之间的差异。讨论了当前使用的病毒物种名称以及未来可能引入的双名制。
