Virus Taxonomy: A Community Knowledgebase Supporting Virus Research

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PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Viruses are able to infect every kind of organism on the planet. They play an integral part in maintaining normal ecosystems but sometimes cause perturbations that have adverse impacts on human health, agriculture, and the wider environment. Understanding the role that viruses play in ecosystems and developing approaches to mitigate their undesirable effects represents a major goal of virologists. Organisms can only be understood in the context of their relationships. This begins with the delineation of common and distinguishing properties and is formalized by the science of taxonomy which creates an ordered, hierarchical system of classification and nomenclature. Taxonomy is critical for building a holistic understanding of the biology of the organisms that inhabit this planet. The International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV) provides a coherent framework for understanding viruses by classifying them on the basis of their kinships as described by the virus taxonomy. The ICTV taxonomic database and programs form the bedrock used by virologists worldwide to understand the global virome, standardize the nomenclature of the huge influx of newly discovered viruses, and promote both research and education in a rapidly changing environment. This proposal is aimed at expanding the effectiveness of the ICTV and strengthening its connections to a broad range of stakeholders. These include people involved in scientific, veterinary, medical, educational, and regulatory endeavors, and anyone else interested in viruses. Our aims focus on providing an integrated set of outcomes that modernized resources to ensure a stable, responsive, scalable infrastructure; increased availability and breadth of taxonomic and virological information; better tools to manage taxonomic classification and handling of data supporting high-throughput virus classification and curation; enhanced accessibility by individuals, groups, and information repositories; and outreach and training activities to ensure that the products of our efforts are used to benefit stakeholders and to promote better understanding of viruses and their classification. This work will advance the capacity of bench scientists, computer scientists, educators, trade regulators, pharmaceutical firms, government agencies, policy makers, and the general public to conduct leading edge research, mitigate the threat posed by viruses, and better understand the risks posed by viruses to human, animal, and agricultural health, and the planet’s ecology. This work will also contribute to national and international security by helping governments to respond to unforeseen outbreaks of virus diseases such as COVID-19.