Veterinary Virology

Aris F. Miclat
Virion morphology
⚫ Virion – the complete virus particle
⚫ consists of a single molecule of nucleic acid (DNA or
RNA) surrounded by a morphologically defined protein
coat, the capsid; the capsid and enclosed nucleic acid
constitute the nucleocapsid.

⚫ capsomeres – structural units of capsids

⚫ The nucleocapsid of some viruses is surrounded by a

lipoprotein envelope (Figure 1.3).
⚫ Naked viruses
⚫ Chicken anemia virus (CAV)
⚫ Infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV)
⚫ Avian encephalomyelitis virus (AEV)
⚫ Egg drop syndrome virus (EDSV)

⚫ Porcine parvovirus (PPV)

⚫ Porcine circovirus 2 (PCV 2)
⚫ Foot and mouth disease virus (FMDV)

⚫ Infectious canine hepatitis virus (ICHV)

⚫ Canine parvovirus (CPV)
Virion symmetry
⚫ Icosahedral symmetry
⚫ icosahedron – one of the five classical platonic solids of
geometry
⚫ Virions with icosahedral symmetry have;
⚫ 12 vertices (corners), 30 edges, and 20 faces, each face an
equilateral triangle.
⚫ Icosahedrons have axes of two-, three-, and five fold rotational
symmetry, which pass through their edges, faces, and vertices,
respectively.
⚫ The structural units or capsomers on the faces and
edges of adenovirus virions, for example, bond to six
neighboring capsomers and are called hexons; those at
the vertices bond to five neighbors and are called
pentons.
Virion symmetry
⚫ Helical or Filamentous
⚫ Viral nucleic acid is wound helically inside the helically
arranged capsomers.
⚫ Most animal viruses with helical nucleocapsid are
enveloped.
Viral envelope
⚫ Envelope – lipoprotein surrounding the capsid in some
viruses
⚫ enveloped virions acquire their outer layer when their
nucleocapsid is extruded through one of the cellular
membranes (nuclear membrane, ER, Golgi apparatus,
plasma membrane)- this process is known as budding.

⚫ The lipids of the viral envelope are derived directly from

the cellular membrane, but the proteins associated with
the envelope are virus coded.
⚫ There are several kinds of
envelope-associated proteins associated
with at least four crucial activities:
⚫ receptor binding
⚫ membrane fusion
⚫ uncoating
⚫ receptor destruction
⚫ Enveloped associated proteins:
⚫ Glycoproteins - usually in the form of dimers or trimers,
assemble into the virion peplomers (peplos = envelope) or
spikes (orthomyxoviruses, paramyxoviruses, rhabdoviruses,
filoviruses, coronaviruses, bunyaviruses, arenaviruses, and
retroviruses)

⚫ Fusion proteins are glycosylated and are also associated with

peplomers; they are involved in key steps in viral entry and
viral release.

⚫ Matrix proteins are nonglycosylated and are found as a layer

on the inside of the envelope of orthomyxoviruses,
paramyxoviruses, rhabdoviruses, filoviruses, and retroviruses,
but not coronaviruses, bunyaviruses, and arenaviruses.

⚫ Matrix protein provides added rigidity to the virion.

⚫ Enveloped viruses
⚫ New castle disease virus (NDV)
⚫ Infectious laryngotracheitis virus (ILTV)
⚫ Infectious bronchitis virus (IBV)
⚫ Fowl pox virus (FPV)

⚫ Hog cholera virus (HCV)

⚫ Porcine reproductive and respiratory disease virus (PCV 2)
⚫ Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV)
⚫ Pseudorabies virus (PV)

⚫ Equine influenza virus (EIV)

⚫ Canine distemper virus (CDV)

⚫ Feline infectious peritonitis virus (FIPV)
Chemical composition of viruses
⚫ Viral nucleic acid
⚫ DNA or RNA
⚫ Double stranded (ds) or Single stranded (ss)
⚫ Monopartite (non-segmented) e.g. all DNA viruses or
Multipartite (segmented) e.g. Orthomyxoviruses,
Reoviruses, Birnaviruses
⚫ Haploid (only 1 copy of each gene) or Diploid (2 copies
of each gene) e.g. Retroviruses
⚫ Positive or negative sense (RNA polarity)
ss genomic RNA polarity
⚫ Positive sense RNA
⚫ genomic RNA is of the same sense as mRNA
⚫ genomic RNA can serve directly as the mRNA

⚫ Negative sense RNA

⚫ genomic nucleotide sequence is complimentary to that
of the mRNA
⚫ mRNA is synthesized from the genomic RNA
Viral proteins
⚫ Structural proteins
⚫ used to construct capsid or other virion components

⚫ Non-structural proteins
⚫ mainly enzymes involved in:
⚫ nucleic acid replication
⚫ transcription
⚫ translation
⚫ shutdown of the host cell functions
Viral glycoproteins
⚫ occur as membrane-anchored peplomers (spikes)
extending outward from the envelope of enveloped
viruses.

Viral envelope lipids

⚫ occur as lipid bilayer in which virus-encoded
glycoproteins and proteins are embedded.
Stability of virus infectivity
⚫ In general, viruses are more sensitive than bacteria or
fungi to inactivation by physical and chemical agents,
but there are important exceptions.

⚫ Knowledge on virus stability is important in

preservation of infectivity of viruses in clinical
specimens and as reference reagents.
Temperature (half life of viruses)
⚫ 60°C - seconds
⚫ 37°C - minutes
⚫ 20°C - hour
⚫ 4°C - days
⚫ -20°C - weeks
⚫ -70°C - years

Ionic environment and pH

⚫ isotonic
⚫ rotaviruses and many picornaviruses survive the acidic pH
of the stomach…
Lipid solvents and detergents
⚫ The infectivity of enveloped viruses is
destroyed readily by lipid solvents such as
ether or chloroform or detergents such as
sodium deoxycholate.
History of virus taxonomy
⚫ 1900 – ability to pass through Chamberland filters
⚫ 1930
⚫ Physical properties of viruses
⚫ Virion size
⚫ Virion morphology
⚫ Virion stability (exposure to pH, temperature, lipid
solvents and detergents)
⚫ Virion antigenicity
⚫ 1950 – three major virus groups
⚫ Myxoviruses
⚫ Herpesviruses
⚫ Poxviruses

⚫ 1960 – International Committee on Taxonomy of

Viruses (ICTV)
⚫ A committee of the Virology division of the
international Union of the Microbiological Societies
⚫ An international group of virologists responsible for the
classification and naming of viruses
⚫ Updates virus taxonomy every 3 years...
Properties used by ICTV to classify
viruses
⚫ Virion morphology
⚫ Size, capsid, capsid symmetry, +/- envelope

⚫ Virion physical properties

⚫ Genome structure, sensitivity to physical and chemical
agents, specific features of viral lipids CHO and proteins

⚫ Antigenic properties

⚫ Biological properties
⚫ Replication strategy, host range, mode of transmission,
pathogenecity
Virus taxonomy
⚫ Identification – process of characterizing of
viruses

⚫ Classification – process of arranging

organisms into similar or related groups

⚫ Nomenclature – system of assigning names

to viruses
Hierarchial levels of viral taxonomy
⚫ Order -virales (Nidovirales)
⚫ Family -viridae (Paramyxoviridae)
⚫ Subfamily -virinae (Pneumovirinae)
⚫ Genus -virus (Metapneumovirus)
⚫ Species (Turkey rhinotracheitis virus)
⚫ Isolates, strains, serotypes (TRTV CVL 14/1)
genotypes, variants
Viral nomenclature
⚫ Poxviridae poc pustule
⚫ Asfarviridae ASFAR African swine fever and related viruses

⚫ Iridoviridae irido iridescent (mosquito iridescent virus)

⚫ Herpesviridaeherpes creeping
⚫ Adenoviridae adenos gland
⚫ PapovaviridaePAPOVA papilloma, polyoma, vacuolating agent

⚫ Parvoviridae parvus small

⚫ Circoviridae circo circular
⚫ Hepadnaviridae hepa liver
⚫ Retroviridae retro backwards
Viral nomenclature
⚫ Reoviridae REO respiratory, enteric, orphan virus

⚫ Birnaviridae BI-RNA 2 segments of RNA

⚫ Paramyxoviridae para: myxo similar : mucus
⚫ Rhabdoviridae rhabdos rod
⚫ Filoviridae filo thread like
⚫ Orthomyviridae ortho:myxo straight : mucus
⚫ Bunyaviridae Bunyamwera locality in Uganda
⚫ Arenaviridae arena sand
⚫ Coronaviridae corona crown
⚫ Arteriviridae arteri- arteritis
Viral nomenclature
⚫ Picornaviridae pico-RNA micro RNA
⚫ Caliciviridae calix cup
⚫ Togaviridae toga cloak
⚫ Flaviviridae flavus yellow
⚫ Filoviridae filo thread like
⚫ Astroviridae astro star
Groupings based on epidemiologic
criteria
⚫ Enteric viruses
⚫ acquired by ingestion and replicate primarily in intestinal
tract
⚫ Entero-, Rota-, Calici-, Reo-, Astro-, Parvo-, Corona-,
Adeno-....

⚫ Respiratory viruses
⚫ acquired by inhalation and replicate primarily in respiratory
tract
⚫ Rhino-, Calici-, Paramyxo-,Rubela-,Pneumo-, Orthomyxo-,
Adeno-....
Groupings based on epidemiologic
criteria
⚫ Arthropod borne (ARBO) viruses
⚫ Replication occurs in blood feeding arthropod vectors
and are then transmitted by a bite to the vertebrate host
⚫ Toga-, Flavi-, Rhabdo-, Bunya-, Orbi-, Colti-, Asfar-....

⚫ Oncogenic viruses
⚫ Causes tumor formation
⚫ Retro-, Hepadna-, Papova-, Adeno-, Herpes-....
Thank you!