Order to the Viral Universe

Abstract

Numerous genomic and structural studies have uncovered an unexpected evolutionary relationship between certain viruses infecting hosts residing in different domains of life. The current virus classification scheme is not suited to acknowledge such distant, albeit biologically relevant, connections. Here we propose to implement a higher-order taxonomic level, which would complement the existing virus taxonomy by allowing distantly related viruses to be rightfully grouped together. Such higher-order grouping would be pivotal in unifying the virosphere and might lead to a major shift in our understanding on the origin, evolution and organization of the viral domain.