Picornaviruses

Picornaviruses 

(from Spanish pico, “small quantity,” and RNA, abbreviation for ribonucleic acid), a group of viruses that lack an envelope and contain a single strand of RNA. Picornaviruses replicate in the cytoplasm of bacterial, plant, animal, and human cells. They are the smallest known viruses, reaching a maximum diameter of about 30 nanometers. The most studied picornaviruses are the enteroviruses, which inhabit human and animal intestines. Many picornaviruses, for example, the polio-virus, can attack the central nervous system. Picornaviruses also include the virus that causes foot-and-mouth disease, murine encephalitis virus, rhinoviruses (which cause inflammation of the upper respiratory tract in man and animals), yellow turnip mosaic virus, and bacteriophage f2.

REFERENCES

Andrewes, C. Estestvennaia istoriia virusov. Moscow, 1969. (Translated from English.)
Wildy, P. Classification and Nomenclature of Viruses. Basel, 1971.