Flaviviridae — addition to the family

Abstract

This review article analyzes and summarizes the history of the replenishment of the family Flaviviridae with new members over the last several decades on the example of the youngest genera of this family - Hepacivirus and Pegivirus .It all started in 1966 when surgeon George Barker, who had hepatitis, had blood serum taken in containing an unknown virus. This virus was named GBV , by patient initials. Samples of the serum were frozen. A nucleic acid recognized as corresponding to the genomes of 2 separate virus species was isolated from the tested material in 1995. These viruses were named GBV-A and GBV-B . By this time, the hepatitis C virus had already been discovered, which was assigned to the Flaviviridae family, where a separate, third genus of Hepacivirus was allocated for it.In 2010, a more distantly related virus (named GBV-D ) was found in bats (Indian flying fox - lat. Pteropus giganteus ). GBV-B , which causes acute hepatitis in experimentally infected tamarines, became the second species in the genus Hepacivirus to company with hepatitis C virus. The remaining GB viruses based on phylogenetic relation-ships, genome organization, and pathogenetic properties were proposed in 2011 to be classified as members of the fourth genus in the Flaviviridae family. This genus was named Pegivirus (pe - persistence, g - GB).11 species of viruses have now been identified in the genus Pegivirus . They are indicated by letters in the order of the Latin alphabet - from Pegivirus A to Pegivirus K. And 14 species of viruses have now been identified in the genus Hepacivirus . So the story of the investigation, which began in 1966 with the discovery of the previously unknown GBV virus, has so far concluded with the discovery of two new genera of the family Flaviviridae. Numerous members of these two genera infect and also persist among a wide range of species belonging to different orders of the mammalian class, including Homo Sapiens .