The ICTV's recommendation for how to write virus, species and other taxa names. (Updated September 16, 2020)
Thank yo so much!
As for betacoronaviruses, my preference would be using a single word, ebolaviruses. But again, there is no official guideline. I see both usages in the literature, but the single word is more common.
When referring to the genus, the correct usage is to capitalize and italicize the name: "...the genus Betacoronavirus.".
For casual reference to the group of viruses, there is no "official" designation of names. In this case, my preference would be a single word: "... betacoronaviruses such as SARS-CoV...".
Elliot
similarly, when talking about ebolaviruses in general (the various species within Ebolavirus ), is it one or two words: ebola viruses vs. ebolaviruses?
If I am talking about beta/alpha coronaviruses in general, is it one word or two: e.g. 'beta coronaviruses' or 'betacoronaviruses'? (No italics, correct)?
Would Betacoronavirus only be capitalized when explicitly referring to the genus (i.e. ...the genus Betacoronavirus contains...
Kenny,
The strain names are provided in the VMR mentioned above.
Dear Elliot,
Please one more thing, my supervisor wants me to use ICTV strain name of specific MSVs in my experiment with their accession number. Please, can you throw more lights on getting this strain name?
Thank you.
This is very clear now.
Thank you
While the ICTV does not officially define abbreviations for virus species, we do provide recommendations fro abbreviating virus names. These abbreviations are provided in the Virus Metadata Resource (VMR): https://ictv.global/vmr/. For the virus, maize streak virus, the suggested abbreviations are MSV/A through MSV/J and MSV/X depending on the virus isolate. The VMR provides GenBank accession numbers linking each virus and abbreviation to the sequence record of the corresponding virus strain. MSV/A is the abbreviation for the exemplar virus (South Africa/A) of the species.
Thank you very much. Would it be official to abbreviate as MSV-A or MSV/A?
Many thanks
When referring to the species, the correct way to write the name would be: "The species Maize streak virus belongs to the genus Mastrevirus...".
Dear members,
Please, how do I write the official ICTV name for Maize streak virus, for instance? I could see it's still same thing.
Thank you very much. It make me clear.
The ICTV does not have any specific rules for handwritten text. Example number 1 above would probably be my personal preference. Just be sure that the underline is replaced with italics if the text is printed.