Simmonds Peter
Nuffield Department of Medicine, Peter Medawar Building for Pathogen Research, University of Oxford, Oxford United Kingdom.
Virus Evol. 2024 Nov 22;10(1):veae096. doi: 10.1093/ve/veae096. eCollection 2024.
The International Committee for the Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) regulates assignment and names of virus species and higher taxa through its taxonomy proposal and ratification process. Despite using similar taxonomic ranks to those used elsewhere in biology, the ICTV has maintained the principle that species and other taxa are strictly categories with a formal nomenclature, whereas the viruses as objects are referenced through a parallel inventory of community-assigned virus names. This is strikingly different from common and scientific name synonyms for species used elsewhere in biology. The recent introduction of binomial names for virus species resembling biological scientific names has intensified this confusion in terms within the virology community and beyond. The ICTV taxonomy furthermore does not engage with or regulate classification below species and consequently lacks taxonomic terms or descriptions for important viral pathogens such as polioviruses, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2, HIV-1, and avian influenza as examples. The consequent reliance on community-adopted virus names, genotypes, and other categories often lacks clarity for clinical, biocontainment, and other regulatory purposes. This article proposes a revision of rules and procedures for species and below-species level classification. It recasts virus and virus species names as 'common' and 'scientific' names that are used in other biology nomenclature codes, each with expanded reference to both object and taxon. It further advocates the creation of a formal below-species taxonomic rank to define a new inventory of approved taxa and specified nomenclature below species. Adoption of the proposed changes will realign virus taxonomy with other biological nomenclatural codes and provide greater transparency and clarity in virology, medical, and regulatory fields.
国际病毒分类委员会（ICTV）通过其分类学提案和批准程序来规范病毒物种及更高分类单元的指定和命名。尽管ICTV使用的分类等级与生物学其他领域相似，但它坚持这样一个原则，即物种和其他分类单元严格来说是具有正式命名法的类别，而病毒作为实体则通过一份由学界赋予的病毒名称的平行清单来指代。这与生物学其他领域中物种的俗名和学名同义词有着显著不同。最近为病毒物种引入类似生物科学名称的双名法，加剧了病毒学界内外术语的混乱。此外，ICTV分类法并不涉及或规范物种以下的分类，因此缺乏针对脊髓灰质炎病毒、严重急性呼吸综合征冠状病毒2型、HIV-1和禽流感等重要病毒病原体的分类术语或描述。因此，临床、生物安全及其他监管目的往往依赖于学界采用的病毒名称、基因型和其他类别，这常常缺乏明确性。本文提议修订物种及物种以下水平分类的规则和程序。它将病毒和病毒物种名称重新定义为其他生物学命名法中使用的“俗名”和“学名”，并对实体和分类单元都进行了扩展引用。它还主张创建一个正式的物种以下分类等级，以定义一个新的已批准分类单元清单以及物种以下的特定命名法。采用这些提议的更改将使病毒分类法与其他生物命名法保持一致，并在病毒学、医学和监管领域提供更高的透明度和清晰度。
